Even Matt LaFleur ‘almost took the bait’ on Jordan Love narrative, but here’s why Packers believe in their QB and expect another level

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Sitting in a recent Green Bay Packers offensive installation, Jordan Love listened as his coaches presented how to run a scramble drill.

Then the Packers’ starting quarterback spoke up.

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Love knew head coach Matt LaFleur had been urging him to be more vocal in meetings. What better time for a player to step up than when discussing an out-of-structure play coaches can’t fully anticipate?

“We’ll install a scramble drill a certain way, but obviously when you get out on the field, everybody’s kind of spinning around and trying to figure out what’s going on,” Love told Yahoo Sports in a Wednesday interview. “So [I told them:] ‘You guys have time to make moves. Look around, see what’s going on, evaluate the defense before you make a move. Don’t rush things.’

“Just little tidbits and pointers I have from being out there with the guys versus it coming from a coach I think is the biggest thing that he wants me to just keep embracing.”

When Packers coaches met with players at the end of the 2024 NFL season, they offered top goals for offseason growth.

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Some guidance focused more on technique and skill development, including Packers wide receiver Jayden Reed’s increased time on the JUGS machine after a season of nine drops. Love has worked on marrying his feet to the timing of his receivers’ routes as well as ensuring his mechanics stay consistent whether he’s throwing routes on air, in seven-on-seven drills, or in full-speed competition with a live pass rush.

But the quarterback’s most significant room for growth wasn’t technical. As Love looks to build off an injury-hampered year and enters the first official season of his $53-million-per-year megadeal, Green Bay wants more than just his strong arm and defensive diagnoses. Head coach Matt LaFleur wants a quarterback who’s more vocal.

“He’s a damn good quarterback,” LaFleur told Yahoo Sports. “I think the thing that we’ve been hitting on him with the most is just getting out of it and being a little bit more vocal. For him to take his game to the next level — he’s got to bring people with him. And not that he doesn’t do that; I think he’s a great leader. I think he does bring others.

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“But I think there’s another level to it all.”

That begins in the meeting room, where teammates say Love is offering new perspective on passing concepts, ball distribution and more.

Cue the scramble drill advice.

“It’s definitely different coming from your quarterback,” rookie receiver Matthew Golden told Yahoo Sports of Love’s insight. “He’s the one on the field. He’s throwing the ball. So whatever he wants, whatever makes him feel confident — that’s what we need to do.

“Hearing it from him, it definitely helps us.”

After breakout debut season, how did Love’s second year as starter compare?

No one’s questioning whether Love has earned the respect of his locker room and coaching staff.

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They watched him play through a series of injuries in 2024 and they watched him break out spectacularly enough in 2023 to earn a huge deal off just one year of production.

In the huddle, Love cues his playmakers on where he wants them.

But the quarterback realized he could more often pull teammates aside when they needed to be held accountable. And in meetings, he realized: Expressing his perspective doesn’t just deepen understanding with his teammates — it also builds trust with his play-caller.

LaFleur and Love pinpoint a 2023 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers as one moment when their trust deepened, a smart read and completion by Love convincing LaFleur he need not be as conservative a play-caller.

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The Packers won six of their remaining eight games that season, Love completing 70.3% of pass attempts for 18 touchdowns to just one interception in that stretch.

LaFleur and general manager Brian Gutekunst decided: We have our quarterback. They paid him accordingly, and a year later, continue to believe in the investment.

“I don’t think there’s anything he can’t do, so that’s pretty liberating as a play-caller,” LaFleur said. “There’s going to be some times where you hit a play and there’s going to be some times where you don’t as a play-caller.

“I think a lot of the quarterback’s job is: When you have a bad play, how do you not make it worse?”

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Love rose above challenging circumstances at times in 2024 and struggled in other moments.

His most recent season offers an easy target for people wanting a clean narrative — positive or negative.

Proponents of the 2020 first-round pick will trumpet his 96.7 passer rating up 0.6 points from his 2023 breakout year, his record as a starter improving slightly from 9-8 to 9-6 (Love missed two full starts with injury and parts of other games). They’ll note he led his team to a playoff berth despite a knee injury suffered in Week 1, a groin injury (likely from returning quickly from the knee) in Week 8 and a hand injury in the regular-season finale. They’ll explain, even if they don’t want to excuse, the Packers’ playoff loss by noting: Love was trying to pull off a comeback without his three top receivers or starting left guard. And they definitely won’t account for the Packers’ heavy reliance on running back Josh Jacobs, who scored 16 touchdowns from scrimmage.

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Love’s critics? They will ignore the injuries — it’s football, there’s a 100% injury rate, and Love doesn’t want to make excuses anyway — and point to his three-interception performance in the 22-10 wild-card loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Naysayers will point to Love’s inability to win against the strongest opponents: Love and the Packers lost twice each to the Eagles, the Detroit Lions and the Minnesota Vikings as the Packers finished 1-5 in their division. And they’ll note that Love’s 3,389 passing yards, 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions had dropped from his prior year’s 4,159 yards, 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

The truth likely lies somewhere in between, and also may not need to lie anywhere prominent except as Love engages in the self-scouting that has been a focus of his offseason.

By training camp, the Packers will look forward.

Packers consider Love narrative vs. reality — and don’t feel need to focus on either

From the armchair of his broad-windowed office Wednesday morning, over the hum of a playlist that included country music emanating from speakers somewhere, LaFleur’s approach fell far more on one side of the debate than the other.

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He could articulate both sides. But ultimately, he found one more convincing.

“He didn’t throw it for as many yards because he missed three and a half weeks,” LaFleur began. “But perception is reality. I think there’s a narrative, for whatever reason that was created. And then I even almost took the bait, to be honest with you. And then I started, I was like, wait a minute …”

LaFleur lists the games Love exited or missed due to injury.

“We [also] ran the ball more.”

The Packers rushed 526 times in 2024 while passing 479 times, a year after dialing up 441 carries to 581 passes. Jacobs made it worth their while, at 4.4 yards per carry. So they’ll lean on the run again — while also recognizing the receiver room is increasingly bursting with mouths to feed.

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The Packers drafted Golden in the first round and fellow receiver Savion Williams in the third. They join a room that already included Reed, Romeo Doubs, Dontayvion Wicks and Christian Watson, who’s still recovering from an ACL tear.

The Packers are eager for Love to help exploit his receiving corps’ speed and its physicality; eager to make a push in a division where they’re the only team not adjusting to a change in quarterback, head coach or coordinators.

Love isn’t trying to downplay expectations, telling dozens of reporters Wednesday that the goal is to win a Super Bowl before even more assuredly telling Yahoo Sports in a nearby hallway: “We’re going to win the Super Bowl this year. This is the year.”

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He’s not afraid of trying to speak into existence a goal 31 of 32 teams won’t achieve. And while he qualifies direct comparisons to his predecessor with reminders that Aaron Rodgers had a different coach, roster and full set of circumstances … Love is happy to chase the Lombardi that Rodgers captured in his own third year starting for the Packers.

If Love is going to be more vocal in team meetings, why not be explicitly vocal trying to manifest team goals, too?

The Packers draw confidence from Love’s first two full years. They also expect more.

“As good as he’s played for us in the past, I think he’s got a lot in front of him,” Gutekunst told Yahoo Sports on Tuesday. “We’re expecting a big year out of him.”