The Green Bay Packers are officially in Love.
Coming off a spectacular 2023 campaign, his debut as the Pack’s starting quarterback, Jordan Love is now tied for the title of NFL’s highest-paid player ever, agreeing Friday to a four-year, $220 million extension with $155 million guaranteed, a person with knowledge of the deal told Tom Silverstein of PackersNews and the USA TODAY Network. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose financial terms of the agreement.
ESPN was first to report the news.
Love becomes the eighth quarterback with a deal averaging at least $50 million annually and ties for the spot of top earner with the Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow and Jacksonville Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence, who also average $55 million apiece.
Prior to last season, Love signed a one-year, $13.5 million extension that served as a kind of prove-it compromise given what an unknown commodity he was while also sparing the team from picking up the more expensive fifth-year option of his rookie deal.
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Love was a controversial first-round pick out of Utah State in 2020, with Green Bay’s front office drawing the ire of incumbent QB1 Aaron Rodgers – though it sparked a mini-resurrection and two more league MVP awards for him. But Love proved nearly beyond a shadow of a doubt last season that he was a worthy replacement to the since-traded Rodgers while apparently extending the Packers’ virtually incomparable lineage at the position, which also includes Hall of Famers Arnie Herber, Bart Starr and Brett Favre.
Love’s 32 touchdown passes in 2023 trailed only MVP runner-up Dak Prescott (36). More importantly, Love was at the controls for the Packers’ second-half surge after a 3-6 start. They won seven of their final 10 games, including the playoffs, embarrassing Prescott’s Dallas Cowboys on the road in the wild-card round before narrowly losing to the San Francisco 49ers the following week.
Starr, Favre and Rodgers failed to guide the Packers into the postseason in their first years as starters. However each of them eventually led Green Bay to Super Bowl victories, Starr winning five rings (three of them for NFL championships attained right before the Super Bowl era began in 1966). And considering last season’s performance and his new financial station, expectations will certainly be much higher for Love and Co. moving forward.
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Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.