Quarterback Jordan Love of the Green Bay Packers has reportedly agreed to a lucrative four-year contract extension worth $220m, according to a source familiar with the deal on Friday.
Love’s new contract includes a $75m signing bonus and $155m in new guarantees.
This extension comes after Love led the NFL’s youngest team to a 10-9 record and a playoff spot last season in his first year as a starter, filling the shoes of the four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers, who was traded to the New York Jets in April 2023.
The news of Love’s contract was first reported by NFL Network, with ESPN revealing the details of the signing bonus and guaranteed money.
Reports of Love’s extension surfaced the same day that Tua Tagovailoa of Miami agreed to a four-year extension worth $212.4m. Detroit’s Jared Goff signed a four-year, $212m extension with $170m guaranteed, and Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence agreed to a five-year, $275m extension with $142m guaranteed earlier in the offseason.
Love’s extension ties him with Lawrence and Joe Burrow for the highest average paid salary ($55M) in NFL history. However, with the NFL’s salary cap booming this offseason, Love’s contract represents a smaller slice of the cap (21.5%) compared to when Burrow signed his extension with the Bengals under the terms of the old cap (25%) in 2023, according to Spotrac.
The 25-year-old Love had been absent from Packers training camp this week as contract talks remained unresolved, though he had been participating in other team activities. His previous contract was set to expire at the end of the upcoming season.
“Certainly we’re very down the road as far as we know he’s our franchise quarterback and we’re ready to move forward,” said general manager Brian Gutekunst on Monday regarding the negotiations. “It’s not like we’re trying to make that decision. But at the same time, we want to put the best team around him we can, and we want to make sure that there’s certainly the structure of it so that we can do what we need to do for our football team moving forward, not only this year but in years to come is very, very important.”
The Packers are putting their trust in Love’s potential shown during his impressive performance last season.
In May 2023, Green Bay had extended Love’s contract for one year, including $13.5m in guaranteed money and $9m in incentives. This allowed the Packers to evaluate Love as he entered his first season as a starter after the departure of Rodgers to the Jets.
Love excelled by completing 64.2% of his passes for 4,159 yards with 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions last season, showing significant improvement as the season progressed. He threw 21 touchdown passes with just one interception in a nine-game stretch that ended with a thrilling 48-32 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in a wildcard playoff game. Love did have two interceptions in the second half the following week in a 24-21 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
Only Kurt Warner in 1999 and Patrick Mahomes in 2018 had thrown for at least 4,000 yards and 32 touchdowns in their first season with multiple starts like Love. Love’s 32 touchdown passes ranked second in the league, behind Dak Prescott of Dallas (36).
Love, who made only one career start before last season, was selected by the Packers as the 26th overall pick in the 2020 draft from Utah State, spending his initial seasons as a backup to Rodgers.
