Could the Green Bay Packers’ Offense Operate Without Aaron Rodgers?
By Kenny Jilek
Jordan Love Himself
Finally, the big factor here is the guy who would be taking the snaps. Anyone who’s watched Jordan Love play at Utah State has seen the extremely volatile nature of his game. He likes to throw in tight windows and on the run. What made Garoppolo good in the 49ers system and Rodgers the MVP this year was their ability to take the short throws and then hit them with a deep bomb very selectively. Love’s ability to sense when those chances can be taken would be crucial to his success.
The lack of NFL game experience would no doubt hurt him if he were to have to take the reigns this season. If he had gotten to play four preseason games, the Green Bay Packers would know much more about what they have in the young signal-caller.
Still, he has had a full year to practice his reads and learn from the best in the game in Aaron Rodgers. That kind of experience and learning opportunity can’t be understated, and there’s no doubt that he’s a better player than when he came out of college.
Like Jimmy G, he would be backed by one of the best run game in the league with the duo of Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon, and Lafleur would likely lean heavily on that in his playcalling, especially early on. He also has arguably the best receiver in the league in Davante Adams, who is sometimes so open because of his route running that it’s almost impossible to miss him.
Early on, things would be tough, both because of the learning curve and because All-Pro tackle David Bakhtiari will likely miss a portion of the season with the torn ACL that he had late last season. However, Bak will provide a big boost to protection, and with that offensive line and those weapons, this Green Bay Packers’ offense could continue to function, just not quite the same as with 12 under center.
The last big thing that would change from Rodgers to Love is how much Rodgers does on the field before the play. He has a lot of freedom to change things like pass protection or even the entire play at the line. With a first-year starter in Love at quarterback, those responsibilities would likely shrink significantly, and we’d see a lot more of lining up and running the one play called by Lafleur. On the bright side, that might mean less play clock down to one heart attacks.
Overall, this Green Bay Packers’ team has so many weapons and other great players than just Rodgers that they could still be a playoff contender if he left. Obviously, we all would love him to stay in the green and gold, and to see him in different colors would be heartbreaking, but the season would go on, and it would land on Jordan Love’s shoulders to carry on an almost 30-year-long streak of Hall of Fame-caliber quarterback play in Titletown.
Would he be able to live up to that extremely heavy weight on his shoulders? Who knows, but maybe he doesn’t have to. Maybe he just has to be a Garoppolo or a Goff, and the Green Bay Packers will be squarely in the race to bring back another Lombardi Trophy.