The Green Bay Packers made one of the most shocking moves in the 2020 NFL Draft when they decided to draft another quarterback instead of adding wide receiver help for Aaron Rodgers.
Last season, the Green Bay Packers returned to dominance in the NFC North, winning the division with a 13-3 record. However, they fell to the San Francisco 49ers in the conference championship game.
Defensively, the Packers were much-improved after an aggressive offseason, but they were poor offensively with Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams as the second and third-leading receivers in terms of receptions. Both players are running backs.
So the Packers were widely expected to give Aaron Rodgers some much-needed help in the first round of the draft, as no need on their roster was greater than their need at wide receiver. When Davante Adams – their only true pass-catching weapon – went down with an injury, Rodgers simply had nothing around him. And with Jimmy Graham now on the Chicago Bears, Green Bay is in an even more difficult position.
But instead of drafting a wide receiver, the Packers decided to draft Rodgers’ heir apparent in the first round by taking one of the best quarterbacks in the class in Jordan Love.
Rodgers did not have an immediate reaction to the move, but ESPN’s Field Yates dug up Rodgers’ statement from March regarding his feelings on any new quarterback in Green Bay.
Remember how Brett Favre felt about Aaron Rodgers? Yeah, it sounds like it’s all coming full circle for Rodgers, who is now playing the role of the grizzled, jaded veteran desperately chasing a second Super Bowl ring while holding off a young quarterback.
Rodgers needs to have that mentality, though, because his play will be under a microscope going forward now that Love is in the building. The Packers will bring Love along slowly and do things the right way, and this isn’t the first time they’ve drafted a touted quarterback with Rodgers as the starter. Remember Brett Hundley?
But Love is a different caliber of quarterback than Hundley, as evidenced by the Packers decision to draft him in the first round. Not only did they draft him at No. 26, but they traded up for a quarterback.
Given the pressure Rodgers finds himself under to perform with a less-than-ideal supporting cast around him and a head coach who still has questions to answer about his X’s and O’s, the 2020 season will be an even more massive one for Green Bay’s No. 12.