Why the Packers drafting Jordan Love doesn’t send the right message to the team

Retired NFL lineman Geoff Schwartz says the players in the Green Bay locker room know this isn’t a win-now move. The first night of the 2020 NFL Draft was going smoothly. Way more smoothly than expected. You can even say it was boring. The first trade didn’t happen until pick No. 13, and it was …

Retired NFL lineman Geoff Schwartz says the players in the Green Bay locker room know this isn’t a win-now move.

The first night of the 2020 NFL Draft was going smoothly. Way more smoothly than expected. You can even say it was boring. The first trade didn’t happen until pick No. 13, and it was Tampa moving up a single pick. Even the Raiders overdrafting two players wasn’t a big story.

Then, the Packers traded up.

And the Packers traded up for Utah State quarterback Jordan Love.

Thank you, Packers, for the storyline of this year’s draft. We have you covered on what this pick means for Aaron Rodgers, but I want to tell you how players in the locker room will feel about this move: They won’t like it.

The players know Love doesn’t help them win a Super Bowl this season

While players aren’t involved in personnel decisions, we do understand what each draft pick means. We aren’t clueless to how the team is built. And the Packers drafting Love signals to the players that the team isn’t serious about making a run now.

The Packers were 13-3 last season and played in the NFC title game. Most would agree the 13-3 record was inflated by an easier schedule and some breaks. They didn’t dominate their opponents and won many of those games in ugly fashion. They were middle of the pack in scoring, total offense, and total defense. There was no metric where they really excelled.

However, players don’t worry about the numbers. They worry about wins, losses, and championships. And for veterans on the team, they understand the need for improving immediately to win a Super Bowl.

So imagine David Bakhtiari, Corey Linsley, Za’Darius Smith, and Preston Smith settling into their favorite spot on the couch getting ready for the draft. Some food, some beers, some family time. It’s getting close to the Packers pick and boom, there’s a trade.

They’re probably thinking, “Oh, yes, we are getting that wide receiver to help the offense,” and then Roger Goodell says, “The Packers selected Jordan Love.”

Love doesn’t help the team right away and the players KNOW that. A wide receiver? That would have helped the team. Rodgers made it clear he was hoping the team would give him a weapon in the first round. Players would take that as a message that winning NOW is important, not winning starting at the earliest in 2022.

Even worse is not only did the Packers not draft a wide receiver in the first round, they didn’t draft one at all. In the deepest WR draft in years! Instead, they only added a running back (AJ Dillon) and tight end (Josiah Deguara) who probably aren’t going to help much in the passing game this season.

You’re welcome to make the argument that drafting Love puts notice on Rodgers, which it does, but Green Bay isn’t getting out of that contract anytime soon if the team even wanted to. Players know contracts. They understand Rodgers has a newish deal. The Packers are committed to him at least through 2022 if they don’t want to incur a big cap hit for releasing him. Could the Packers trade him? Of course. But when? To who? Who’s taking his deal?

Barring injury, Rodgers is still the Green Bay quarterback for the foreseeable future. Rather than get him the missing piece that could make them legitimate Super Bowl contenders, the Packers used their first-round pick on a quarterback who probably won’t see the field for a while. And by doing that, they let the current players know that a couple years from now is more important than the present.

There is no past example in NFL Draft history that compares

Some might try to bring up the Chiefs, who drafted Patrick Mahomes when they had Alex Smith. Yes, they did.

However, Alex Smith is not Aaron Rodgers. Smith is not a two-time MVP and he was never leading the Chiefs to the Super Bowl, despite the team winning the division multiple times under Andy Reid. He had a career season in 2017 and promptly lost a home playoff game to the Titans. It made more sense the Chiefs were willing to move on from Smith than the Packers are from Rodgers.

Also, LOVE IS NOT MAHOMES:

Patrick Mahomes
Total EPA: 98th percentile
Pass EPA: 96th
EPA/Play: 85th
Pass TDs: 93rd
Schedule: 46th

Jordan Love
Total EPA: 15th percentile
Pass EPA: 19th
EPA/Play: 6th
Pass TDs: 24th
Schedule: 24th

I get the point, but these two were on different stratospheres as prospects. https://t.co/RmlBEEyLkF
— Hayden Winks (@HaydenWinks) April 19, 2020

This comparison is just lazy. The Packers drafted Love for at least a couple years in the future. The Chiefs started Mahomes a year after he was drafted.

You might try to argue, “But Ge-off, the Packers did this before. They drafted Rodgers with Brett Favre firmly in the quarterback position.” Yes, they did. And it worked — 15 years ago. Should the Patriots attempt to build their franchise around another sixth-round draft pick because Tom Brady worked out?

The draft is about finding value. The Packers drafted Rodgers at No. 24 because he was projected to be the top pick in the draft and the value was there. Also, they expected Favre to retire fairly soon, which he clearly didn’t do.

On the other hand, Love was pegged as the fourth-best QB this year, and many draft experts had a second-round round grade on him, maybe even lower by some. This is a succession plan for years from now, not something where the Packers think Rodgers is retiring soon.

I understand the idea of team-building far more than when I played. I’m OK with the concept of looking ahead, but in this league, I’m not sure that’s possible much anymore. It’s about winning now, especially in the locker room. The Love pick does not do that — and the players in that locker room know it.