Packers Training Camp Preview: Quarterbacks

GREEN BAY, Wisconsin – What a difference a year can make.

When Jordan Love entered training camp in 2023, he wasn’t just the Green Bay Packers’ biggest question mark. He was one of the biggest question marks in the entire NFL.

Questions remain about Love before the Packers begin training camp on July 22, but they are very different after he played at an outstanding level until the end of last season.

Here’s our training camp preview of Love and the Packers quarterbacks.

Lineup of the Packers quarterbacks

Jordan Love: Love has more than filled Aaron Rodgers’ shoes. Statistically, he was superior to Rodgers in 2008, the future four-time MVP’s first season as a starter, and he was far superior to Rodgers in 2022, when the Packers missed the playoffs. Love finished a mediocre 11th in passer rating and 21st in completion percentage, but has been outstanding over the last eight games, when he was second in scoring and third in completion percentage.

Sean Clifford: A fifth-round rookie, Clifford was the clear winner in the battle for the second quarterback position. In particular, his performance in the 2-minute drill during training camp was a big reason why the team did not sign a veteran to replace Love. He threw one pass during the regular season, and his 37-yard pass to Bo Melton gave him the highest yards per attempt in NFL history.

Michael Pratt: General manager Brian Gutekunst wanted to resume drafting quarterbacks on a regular basis and selected Pratt in the seventh round. Some teams had selected him as the first quarterback after the top six passers were selected in the first round. Instead, he was the eleventh and final quarterback selected. Highlights of his career at Tulane included beating USC’s Caleb Williams in the Cotton Bowl.

Greatest Strength: More than Jordan Love

The simple and obvious name under that heading is love, so let’s take the less obvious route and highlight Coach Matt LaFleur’s quarterback room.

Longtime quarterback coach Tom Clements was impressed with Love’s development and the team’s progress and decided to return at the age of 71.

“I’m really at a point now where it’s year to year,” he said at the start of OTAs. “The way we ended up, it really wasn’t that difficult a process to make the decision to come back. I think we’re ready to become a good team. Obviously we have to work on it. Every year is a new year. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“But compared to last year, it’s a lot easier because we had a lot of guys that had no experience in the NFL at all. A lot of rookies. For Jordan, it was his first year as a starter and he was seeing things for the first time. But as the year went on, we obviously evolved and were pretty good at the end of the year. So we know we can be pretty good. Now we just have to work on getting to the same point and that’s a process. It’s not easy, but I think we have the guys that can do it.”

LaFleur has also added one of his former students, Sean Mannion, to the team. Mannion, a third-round pick in 2015, has started three times in his career but should bring a breath of fresh air to the team.

“It’s nice because he played with Matt, he was quarterback with Matt, so I was able to ask him a million different questions,” Clifford said. “For a good three weeks, we had an extra meeting every other day – just the two of us. We didn’t even discuss our concepts. We just went over the ball. We watched situations and were able to discuss these different situations. It was a blessing to have him.”

Biggest question: Is Jordan Love worth the money?

Love is set to receive a huge contract extension sometime before training camp begins. Is he worth the $275 million he may receive?

There’s a chance Love will be the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL after half a season. Through the first nine games, 34 quarterbacks have thrown at least 100 passes. Love was 27th in scoring, 33rd in completion percentage and 34th in interceptions. Over the last eight games, he was second in scoring, as he had a league-best plus-17 touchdowns (18) to interceptions (1).

Being that good for 17 games would be unrealistic for pretty much any quarterback in the history of the sport. So can he be anywhere close? If so, the Packers could win this year’s Super Bowl — and the Super Bowl every year. If not, it will be nearly impossible to outperform a mediocre quarterback on a superstar salary.

Biggest fight: Sean Clifford vs. Michael Pratt

It will be a backup position, but there will hardly be a more important battle in training camp than Clifford versus Pratt for the position of Love’s main backup.

Love came through last season unscathed, meaning Clifford didn’t have to play a key snap. But that’s rare. Last season, Love was one of nine quarterbacks to start all 17 games. Overall, 67 quarterbacks started at least one game, 45 of whom started at least four games and 39 started at least six.

The Packers value both players highly, but can either of them win a game as a substitute without any real NFL experience?

Biggest key: Jordan Love under pressure

Good quarterbacks make their plays when they are under pressure.

First, there is the physical pressure. Last season, 33 quarterbacks were under pressure on at least 100 dropbacks. According to Pro Football Focus, Love ranked 18th in completion percentage (49.0) and 17th in turnover worship play percentage (defined by PFF as a pass with a high probability of being intercepted or fumbled). That’s roughly equivalent to Aaron Rodgers in 2022. So not bad, but certainly room for improvement with experience.

Then there’s the pressure in the decisive moments. Love was on the home stretch last year and destroyed Dallas in the playoffs. He rose to the occasion. But when it was all about the game against San Francisco, he seemed overwhelmed by the moment. The last interception, when Love was under pressure and forced the ball to a well-covered Christian Watson, was a mistake of the first half of the season.

The Packers need Love to improve on both fronts this season, and with a year of experience, the Packers are counting on that.

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