Why Jordan Love's path to Packers starter remains unique - ESPN

GREEN BAY, Wis. — On the first day of training camp this summer, Matt LaFleur tried something different. After the one hour, 36-minute practice, the Green Bay Packers coach called the team together in the middle of Ray Nitschke Field.

He shared his thoughts on the practice, went over the schedule for the rest of the day and stepped out of the center of the huddle as usual.

Then he said nothing.

«In the past, I'd call on a specific person to break it down,» LaFleur said in a recent interview with ESPN. «This time, I just wanted to see who took it. And the first time the whole team was here, he took it. So I was like, 'There we go.'»

The «he» was quarterback Jordan Love.

And that's how his third season as a starter began.

It was exactly the kind of step LaFleur had been looking for ever since he challenged Love after last season to become more vocal, even though the No. 26 draft pick in the 2020 draft led the Packers to the playoffs each of his first two seasons as the starting quarterback.

If it took Love some time to get to this point, it was by design — right out of the Packers' quarterback development manual. Love sat behind future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers for three years before taking over as the starter. Nearly two decades ago, Rodgers waited his turn behind Hall of Famer Brett Favre for three years. In Rodgers' third season as the starter, the Packers won the Super Bowl.

Despite the success the Packers have had with this approach, it did not start a trend around the NFL where teams take a quarterback in the first round and let him sit for multiple seasons.

«Show me a team since then that has done that,» a high-ranking personnel executive from another team said. «There aren't any. Everyone says, 'That's