Friday Kerfuffle

We are dedicating this space to answering one single question

By the time you read this, the first round of the NFL Draft is over, and - per a trade that finally went down earlier in the week, Aaron Rodgers is a member of the New York Jets.

This means that the Packers are rolling into 2023 with Jordan Love as their QB. (Now, I will state that as I schedule these posts, there’s a non-zero chance the Packers drafted a QB last night that puts this in jeopardy. But assuming that didn’t happen, read on.) And there’s a chance my view on all of this is shaded by living in the Bay Area but it strikes me that Love and Trey Lance have a LOT in common but are viewed quite differently. And I can’t figure out ….why that is.

Love was drafted before the 2020 season, but didn’t get into a game that year, but instead came in for his lone start in November 2021. He had a fine game - completing 19/34 for 190 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT, adding 23 yards on the ground. The Packers lost to the Chiefs, 13-7.

Lance was drafted a season later - at much higher draft capital - but sat behind Jimmy G his rookie season, getting two starts in which we’ll get to. He headed into last season as the presumptive starter, and played one game in a hurricane, and got hurt in his second series in the second game. For all intents and purposes, his two starts in 2021 are what’s truly on tape. In those two games, he averaged 15/26 for 221 yards, with 1 TD and 1 INT, adding an average of 60 yards on the ground. The 49ers went 1-1 in those two starts.

For their entire careers, which includes for both a lot of coming in for a carry or pass, or mop-up duty, it’s similarly the same story:

But here in the Bay Area, there’s a LARGE contingency of 49ers fans who think that Lance is absolutely toast, that he has no future in the NFL as a starter, that if he was “really good,” he would have been starting long ago. Certainly, there’s some truth to him not exploding on the scene, but that was expected when he was drafted.

With Love, it was a baffling move that I don’t think has ever been truly given the flak it deserves. Green Bay had Aaron Rodgers who wasn’t excelling at the time but was still quite good and the team had just gone 13-3. After Love was drafted, Rodgers clearly got inspired and won back-to-back MVPs in 2020 and 2021, leaving no room for Love. A holdout last summer, and then a signing gave Rodgers the job once again. So … is all of this evidence that Jordan Love stinks?

Again, maybe I just don’t hear the uncertainty from out here on the West Coast, but it seems to me that people are willing to see what Love has, were buoyed by his limited time starting (one game) and understand that the team has offensive limitations. But with Lance, that’s not really the case.

It’s confusing. I have no theories for it, but I’d love some proffered up if you have an idea.