Love Goes For 2
NFL Roundup: QB Jordan Love Inks 2-Year Extension With Green Bay
The Green Bay Packers, who last week traded Aaron Rodgers to the Jets, didn’t pick up the fifth-year option on the quarterback they drafted to replace the four-time MVP and Super Bowl champion.
Instead, the team and 2019 first-round pick Jordan Love agreed Tuesday to a revised, two-year deal that will reportedly pay Love up to $22.5 million, with $13.5 million guaranteed.
Love stood to make $23 million over the next two years if the Packers had picked up his fifth year option, so the extension basically guarantees that Love didn’t take a loss.
Knowing the high price tag for quarterbacks, Love could’ve tried to force Green Bay’s hand by not agreeing to the extension – which would’ve have either led to the Packers picking up the fifth-year option and paying him the same money anyway or Green Bay not picking up the option and Love making just $2 million but hitting free agency at the end of the season.
Quarterbacks tend to do well in free agency, but Love would’ve had to feel comfortable betting on himself in that scenario.
Until the terms of the deal are out, it’ll be hard to know all the context that led to Love’s decision.
Either way, if Love has a breakout 2023 and is established as Green Bay’s next franchise quarterback, he’ll likely be in line for a big payday beyond 2023 anyway.
The safe route isn’t a bad choice when you’re a quarterback.
Ghost Of Gannon
Memories of a defensive collapse and blown 10-point lead in the Super Bowl continue to haunt Howie Roseman.
The Eagles’ executive vice president of football operations groaned about the Jonathan Gannon-Arizona Cardinals tampering ordeal that helped the Eagles pick up draft compensation because it forced him to think back to the team’s 38-35 loss to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl.
Roseman acknowledged that the impermissible contact between Gannon, then defensive coordinator of the Eagles, and the Cardinals “was handled at the ownership level and at the league level.”
“I’m mad that we’re talking about the freakin’ Super Bowl,” Roseman said in an interview with 94.1 WIP’s morning talk show. “I’m mad that I got to freakin’ go back to that moment, that we had a chance to win our second world championship and it drives me.
“All this other stuff, it doesn’t help us win games so we’ve got to move on from it and figure out the best way to win games.”
Bills Add Ford
With free agents no longer counting towards the compensatory pick formula as of Monday, some of the top veterans on the market will soon find a new home.
The Buffalo Bills are striking first, agreeing to a one year deal with DT Poona Ford.
Ford spent his first five seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. After making the team as an undrafted free agent, he became a stout run defender on the d-line and a reliable starter.
ITB’s Adam Caplan had Poona Ford ranked as the second best free agent interior defensive lineman.
As a team that has struggled in run defense, Sean McDermott adds a worthy name to the mix of Buffalo’s interior rotation that also includes Ed Oliver, DaQuan Jones, and Jordan Phillips.
Fifth-Year Options
With one day to go before the fifth-year option deadline, a pair of rivals to the Philadelphia Eagles have made their decision on their 2020 first round picks.
The New York Giants will pick up the option of LT Andrew Thomas – a no-brainer given Thomas made second-team All Pro in 2022 – while the Kansas City Chiefs declined the option of RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who was inactive for the Super Bowl against the Eagles.
Thomas enjoyed a breakout year for the New York Giants in their first season under new coach Brian Daboll. Helaire logged over 1,100 total yards his rookie season but hasn’t come close to duplicating that success in each of the past two years.
Also, the Jets declined the fifth-year option on OT Mekhi Becton, the 11th overall pick from 2020 who has played just 15 career games and dealt with various injuries and weight control issues.
Becton lost his job to veteran OT Duane Brown but will have a chance this upcoming season to compete to earn the job back.
– Benjamin Paul and Geoff Mosher contributed to this report for InsideTheBirds.com.
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