When the Green Bay Packers selected quarterback Jordan Love with the No. 26 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Aaron Rodgers was shocked.
Advertisement
Rodgers had publicly advocated for the Packers to draft a wide receiver, believing that it would help the team, which had just gone 13-3 and reached the NFC Championship Game, take the next step. Instead, the Packers chose a quarterback, a move widely interpreted as signaling the beginning of the end of Rodgers’ tenure in Green Bay.
In the Netflix documentary “Aaron Rodgers: Enigma,” Rodgers described his immediate reaction: “I looked down at my phone and my agent just texted me: ‘Quarterback.’ And I was like, ‘No f–king way,'” he recalled. Turns out, Love was shocked too.
“I definitely had no idea about the Green Bay Packers. I don’t think anybody realised they were going to take a quarterback with Aaron Rodgers still there. It was definitely a shock to me. But it was great news,” he told Rich Eisen.
Love went on to learn from the best in the game under Rodgers for three years, and Rodgers went on to win the NFL MVP award in both 2020 and 2021. However, the relationship between the veteran quarterback and the Packers became increasingly fraught, ultimately leading to his trade to the New York Jets before the 2023 season.
Love scored the starting spot in 2023 and finished second in the NFL in touchdown passes (32), seventh in passing yards (4,159), and 11th in passer rating (96.1). Guiding the NFL’s youngest roster, he propelled Green Bay into the playoffs and then delivered a masterful, near-flawless performance to lead the Packers to a dominant wild-card win over the Cowboys.
In 2024, Green Bay rewarded Love with a four-year, $220 million contract extension that put him in a tie for the highest-paid player in NFL history at that time. Love’s deal also included a record-setting $75 million signing bonus. However, things have not been this rosy for Rodgers.
Rodgers’ NFL future still up in air
The 41-year-old Quarterback’s NFL journey after his Green Bay days hasn’t been the smoothest. His first year with the New York Jets ended with a catastrophic Achilles injury. And his second was another kind of catastrophe. He failed to redeem himself, eventually parting ways with the team after the end of the 2024 season.
Now, the 2025 draft is days away, and he remains unsigned. However, it seems like it’s by his own design.
“I’m in a different phase of my life. I’m 41, in a serious relationship, and I have personal commitments,” he confessed recently on the Pat McAfee show, indicating his unwillingness to commit to a team right now.
During the offseason, he has been tied to teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers, Minnesota Vikings, and New York Giants. However, it seems those talks never went there. Even now, he remains non-committal about his future plans. As he says, “I’m open to anything and attached to nothing.”
