Jordan Love, after following two all-time greats, has needed only 18 regular season starts for the Green Bay Packers to demonstrate that he is capable of providing the storied franchise with another highly successful quarterback. He landed an accordingly hefty contract extension Friday.
Love, after taking the Packers to the divisional round of the NFC playoffs in January in his first full season as their starter, agreed to a four-year, $220 million extension, his agents confirmed on social media Friday night.
The $55 million average annual value of Love’s extension matches the $55 million-per-year extensions previously signed by fellow quarterbacks Joe Burrow with the Cincinnati Bengals and Trevor Lawrence with the Jacksonville Jaguars. They are, by that measure, the highest-paid players in NFL history. Burrow’s and Lawrence’s deals are worth $275 million each over five seasons.
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Love’s extension includes a record $75 million signing bonus and $155 million in fully guaranteed money, according to two people with knowledge of the contract terms. He had reported to the Packers’ training camp but sat out practices until the contract was completed.
Love threw for 4,159 yards and 32 touchdowns during the 2023 regular season. The Packers went 9-8 and reached the playoffs, then upset the Dallas Cowboys in an opening-round NFC game on the road before losing to the San Francisco 49ers in a conference semifinal. Love spent his first three seasons backing up Aaron Rodgers after being chosen by the Packers in the opening round of the 2020 NFL draft.
The Packers were widely criticized for using the 26th overall selection in that draft on Love rather than bolstering their roster around Rodgers. Love waited his turn behind Rodgers just as Rodgers once had been forced to wait his turn while backing up Brett Favre. Rodgers won his third and fourth league MVP awards with Love on the roster. But the Packers failed to return to the Super Bowl and Rodgers was traded to the New York Jets in April 2023.
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Now the Packers must hope that Love, who turns 26 in November, becomes the sort of mainstay for the franchise that Favre and Rodgers were. Love’s extension puts him under contract with the Packers through the 2028 season.
Earlier Friday, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa agreed to a four-year, $212.4 million extension with the Miami Dolphins. The contract terms were confirmed by Tagovailoa’s agents. The $53.1 million average annual value of Tagovailoa’s extension puts him behind only Love, Burrow and Lawrence.
Tagovailoa and Love joined Burrow and two other quarterbacks drafted in 2020, the Los Angeles Chargers’ Justin Herbert and the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts, in signing megadeals. Those five quarterbacks have received contract extensions totaling more than $1.2 billion.
Tagovailoa threw for 4,624 yards and 29 touchdowns for the Dolphins last season. He started all 17 regular season games after suffering two diagnosed concussions during the 2022 season.
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