The Green Bay Packers made a long-awaited decision on fourth-year quarterback Jordan Love’s contract situation.
May 2, 2023, was the deadline for the Packers to exercise Love’s fifth-year option for the 2024 NFL season.
Instead of doing that, the Packers signed him to an extension that keeps him with the team through 2024.
What’s The Difference?
On the surface, the two alternatives seem similar, but the amount of guaranteed money is what differentiates them.
The fifth-year option was valued at $20.27 million for 2024.
This is fully guaranteed money.
Love’s deal is worth up to $22.5 million through 2024 with performance incentives included.
$13.5 million is fully guaranteed.
Jordan Love's 5th-year option value was for $20.272M, fully guaranteed.
Rather than picking that up, Green Bay gives Love a chance at more upside, with a bit of protection for the team with less guaranteed money.
The most unique 5th-year option choice every comes to a close. https://t.co/YYTFBD5Sr8
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) May 2, 2023
Unique Situation
This was a very unique situation.
First-round draft picks are the only players eligible for a fifth-year option.
In most cases, the first-round draft pick quarterbacks have played enough during their first three seasons in the NFL for the team to evaluate the risks and rewards of the fifth-year option.
As everyone knows, Love has been Aaron Rodgers’ QB2 for the past three years.
He has played 10 career games, starting only one of them in his career.
What It Means
This was a scrupulous move by the Packers.
Failure to exercise his fifth-year option would leave him unprotected past the 2023 season with a salary of 2.3 million which is paltry for NFL starting quarterbacks.
Exercising the option locked the Packers to a fully guaranteed deal that perhaps they would later regret because the decision has to be made over a year in advance of the player’s fifth NFL season.
A good example of that situation happened with the Cleveland Browns and Baker Mayfield.
He led the team to the playoffs in his third NFL season in 2020 so the Browns exercised the option in April 2021.
The #Browns have exercised the fifth-year option on quarterback Baker Mayfield's contract. His salary in 2022 will be $18.858 million.
— Noah Weiskopf (@BrownsWithNoah) April 23, 2021
What happened next was an injury-filled 2021 and a trade for Deshaun Watson in 2022 that left the Browns on the hook for 100% of his salary unless they could find a trade partner.
Prove It Time
Love needs to show the Packers in 2023 and 2024 that he was worth all of the discord and issues that started the rift with Aaron Rodgers.
If he does that, he will get a bigger extension in 2025.
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