Running back
Aaron Jones noticed the difference in the huddle. Anyone watching practice saw it when the ball left his hand. What they heard and what they saw was
Jordan Love 2.0, and as QB1.
Love might not be the
Green Bay Packers' ideal choice to start when the regular season opens on Sept. 12 at the
New Orleans Saints -- and the Packers still hope they can lure back the disenchanted
Aaron Rodgers and not have to play Love this season. But the quarterback who ran what was left of the No. 1 offense this week during OTAs looked much different than the third-stringer who crawled through his rookie season in 2020.
“You can tell he’s just a lot more comfortable out there, even from communicating in the huddle to the command of the huddle to just everything,” Jones said after Tuesday’s practice that was open to the media. “He’s had a year under his belt, he’s had time to watch and learn, so you can tell it’s a little bit different from what it was before. He’s going to continue to grow, and I’m happy to be here working with him.”
During individual drills, Love found the throwing nets more often than he did last season and zipped the ball with a higher velocity. The highlight during those periods was a throw that traveled 35 yards in the air and landed in the outstretched hands of tight end
Robert Tonyan.
In the 7-on-7 periods, Love completed 14 of 20 passes. Most of them were short-to-medium throws often working through his progressions. That could be viewed one of two ways: Either he wasn’t comfortable enough to find his primary reads or he’s learned patience.
There’s always this caveat with a practice in May: It was in helmets and shorts against no pass rush and with players barely operating at practice speed, let alone game speed.
“He’s definitely matured over the course of the year,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “You can tell that he’s put in the time this offseason, not only just lifting and running and coming in in good football shape, but also you can tell he’s put in the time in his craft in trying to continue to work on his mechanics, his fundamentals that are so critical to playing the position at the highest level possible.
“So he’s still got a lot to learn. I think he can tell you that, but he’s going to take it one day at a time. He goes out there with purpose. I like his mindset right now.”
The Packers did not make Love available to reporters this week. Their next open OTA and availability is Wednesday.
