Packers’ Love at OTAs despite unsettled contract

GREEN BAY, Wis. — For now, Jordan Love will be a full participant in anything the Green Bay Packers do on the field this offseason even without a contract extension.

In fact, he said his agents said nothing to him about sitting out of training camp if he doesn’t have a new deal by July.

While he stopped short of saying that could change once the season starts, he was slightly less committal when asked if he would not play in 2024 on his current contract — a below-market deal that’s worth just $11 million for this season.

“We’ll see,” Love said Tuesday. “I don’t know yet. We’ll see.”

Love was hesitant to talk about anything else related to his contract, but he gave no indication he was concerned about something getting done before that would even become something to seriously consider.

The most likely scenario is that Love and the Packers come to an agreement on a massive contract extension before the regular-season opener — and possibly before training camp opens. Even if the two sides aren’t close now, nothing has gotten acrimonious to date. That explains in part why Love was taking every starting quarterback rep during the first offseason practice that was open to the media.

“I mean that’s just something that I’ve always done — trying to be here, get the reps in, get the work in with the guys and just start building that chemistry and getting ready for the season,” Love said.

In fact, attendance has been near-perfect for much of the offseason program. Only one player, cornerback Robert Rochell, was absent on Tuesday. Even players returning from injuries like tackle Zach Tom and tight end Tucker Kraft — both of whom suffered torn pectorals while lifting weights this offseason and needed surgery — plus tight end Tyler Davis (knee) and rookie safety Kitan Oladapo (toe) were in attendance.

Some of that, coach Matt LaFleur suggested, was because of Love.

“Oh, it’s everything to us,” LaFleur said Love’s presence. “Our attendance here, I know we had one guy missing today for a personal matter, but we’ve had almost 100% the entire offseason, which has been the best that we’ve had since I’ve been here.

“And I always think when you look around the league, when your quarterback’s there, it just naturally has a way of attracting everybody to come. We’re still a very young football team as well, so these guys, they want to put in the work. We’ve got a lot of guys that love the game and love the process of grinding together and going through some tough things together. But to have him here, you can’t put a value on that.”

Love played last season on a mini extension of his rookie deal. Instead of picking up the fifth-year option for 2024, they gave him an extension last May 3 that included more up-front money in the form of an $8,788,655 signing bonus, which upped his average pay per year to $13.5 million. It also gave the Packers an out if they felt like Love was not the long-term answer at quarterback. After the way Love performed last season, leading the Packers to the NFC divisional playoff round, that’s no longer a concern.

League rules prevented a second extension from being done in the 12 months immediately following that deal, but general manager Brian Gutekunst said several times this offseason that they would start work on a new deal even before that May 3 date.

Love is now likely to garner the kind of money that Jared Goff got from the Lions in his new deal, which averages $53 million per season.

“I think it’s well-deserved,” Packers receiver Christian Watson said of a new deal for Love. “Obviously I love having him as my quarterback. Just to get that deal done and know he’s going to be here a while, I’m definitely going to be excited for him.”