Green Bay Packers: No Need to Use Jordan Love on Special Plays

It was recently suggested that Jordan Love should see the field in special packages this season. However, there really is no need for the Green Bay Packers to do that.

Perhaps the most polarizing pick of the 2020 NFL Draft was the Green Bay Packers decision to trade up in Round 1 to select Utah State quarterback, and eventual heir to the throne, Jordan Love.

As you can imagine, for a Packers team coming off a 13-3 season with Aaron Rodgers still under contract for up to four more years, this wasn’t a popular pick among the fan base or many within the NFL media.

And since the draft, there has been non-stop speculation in regards to Love and Rodgers’ relationship, and of course, how long before Love takes over as the starting quarterback in Green Bay?

Well, with Rodgers’ contract along with Love simply not being ready, we know for certain that the 2020 Packers still belong to No. 12. However, while Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report admits that Love won’t be QB1 this upcoming season, Freeman did say that he could play a “significant part of the offense” in special packages.

Although Freeman certainly thinks that it’s a possibility, does it really make sense to do this? I for one, don’t think so.

But first let’s start here, this is purely speculation as there hasn’t been any word from 1265 Lombardi Avenue that the Green Bay Packers tend to use Love in a Taysom Hill-like role. In fact, during his recent Zoom call with reporters, Nathaniel Hackett was asked about this and said that it’s still too early to know (via ESPN):

"“I think everything’s still so early to tell,” Hackett said. “Haven’t even really gotten to sit in a meeting room at Lambeau. I haven’t gotten to talk with him much or work face to face. I think there’s so much yet to be seen. You never know. Anything can happen.”"

Sure he leaves it open-ended at the end of his statement, but I take that as Hackett saying there isn’t a zero percent chance of it happening, yet it’s still highly unlikely.

Now let’s get to the nitty-gritty. While the New Orleans Saints have found success with using Hill on trick plays here and there, you could easily argue that Hill is much more equipped for that role than Love is.

For one, while Love has good mobility within the pocket, he did run a 4.74 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. Meanwhile, Hill posted a 4.46 at his Pro-Day and comes with more playmaking ability in the open field.

We also have to strongly consider the injury risk that comes with expecting Love to make plays with his legs. The reason for drafting him while Rodgers still has a few years left on his deal is to allow him to develop. Well, nothing will delay his progress quite like missing practice time with an injury.

It’s also worth pointing out that while Love has good size for a quarterback at 6’3″ – 224 pounds, at 6’0″ – 225 pounds, Hill is thicker and he is more compact. Which can make absorbing those hits a bit easier.

But wait, there’s more! Sending Love in to run some occasional trick plays does nothing for his development as an NFL quarterback. Do you know the best way that Green Bay can get him playing time? Go into the fourth quarter up four scores and let him run the offense.

And while we are at it, there really isn’t anything tricky about a trick play. When the defense sees Love under the center in the middle of the game, guess what? They know some sort of trick play is coming.

Lastly, I’ll finish with this, while Love may surprise us the general consensus is that he just isn’t ready to be a starting quarterback at this point. So in my eyes taking Aaron Rodgers off the field for a few plays each game to try to catch the defense off-balance with a rookie quarterback just makes no sense whatsoever.

We all hope that Love becomes a successful NFL quarterback but in order to do so, he needs to develop. So the Green Bay Packers need to let him learn, give him those opportunities to run the offense in practice and in a game when possible, while also not exposing him to unnecessary injury risk, among other things.

Although Aaron Rodgers may not be the 2011 version of himself, he is still Aaron Rodgers and needs to be on the field at all times. There’s no need to run Love out there for a few trick plays each game.