Jordan Love has the Green Bay Packers thinking Super Bowls in Titletown.
Green Bay arrived, seemingly ahead of schedule, in Love’s first full season as the Packers’ starting quarterback, making the NFC Playoffs and knocking off the Dallas Cowboys 48-32 in blowout fashion in the NFC Wild Card Round.
Leading a young core assembled by general manager Brian Gutekunst, by season’s end Love was playing like one of the NFL’s premier quarterbacks. Love and the Packers’ potential is much loftier in 2024.
Pro Football Focus lists the Packers as the ninth-widest Super Bowl window for the upcoming season.
“The Packers make this list due to their potential,” Zoltan Buday writes for PFF. “Despite the team’s plethora of young and inexperienced players, if Jordan Love can play up to the ceiling that he flashed in 2023, Green Bay’s Super Bowl window is open once again.”
How Packers Build Around Jordan Love to Take Next Steps
Gutekunst and the Packers have an exciting group of young skill players primed to grow alongside Love in the coming years.
In addition to former second-round draft choice Christian Watson and fourth-rounder Romeo Doubs, who will be entering their pivotal third NFL season in 2024, the Packers saw rookie Jayden Reed emerge as the team’s leading receiver after being chosen in the second round. Likewise, Dontayvion Wicks burst onto the scene as a former fifth-round pick to average 14.9 yards per reception.
Between a young and dynamic receiving corps and a reliable duo of young tight ends in Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft, the infrastructure is in place around Love for the passing game to make significant strides as this group grows together.
While Green Bay must rebuild the secondary this offseason, with both safeties set to become free agents, new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley’s scheme could allow for rookies and young players to emerge as difference-makers pretty quickly.
How Jordan Love’s Extension Will Impact the Packers’ Roster
The talent might be in place for the Packers to make a serious charge at unseating the Detroit Lions for NFC North supremacy, already. However, Gutekunst has his work cut out for him this offseason.
Once Love is eligible this May to sign a new contract extension — after reworking his deal last spring, the Packers should be able to clear significant cap space to continue buttressing the talent on the roster around the promising young quarterback.
However, ahead of free agency beginning on March 13, the Packers have just $13.6 million in cap space.
Spotrac projects that Love could fetch a contract worth upwards of $44.8 million annually, which would make him one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the league.
The Packers’ Super Bowl window is open, but how long it stays will depend on how well this organization continues to draft, and surround Love with young players with upside, who more importantly, are affordable under the cap.