The Green Bay Packers are in a dilemma that, frankly, many teams would love to find themselves in. They have a franchise quarterback. And now they have to pay him.
Jordan Love has proven himself worthy of a new contract in his first full year as a starter. It seemed a given that the Packers would give him an extension before the start of the 2024 season. It may not be that simple anymore.
As Justis Mosqueda of Acme Packing Co. has researched, the Packers find themselves in the unenviable position of being “the first team to have to negotiate a significant contract extension for their quarterback following the jury’s decision in the NFL Sunday Ticket trial.”
The NFL lost a massive antitrust case this week. A jury ordered the league to pay more than $4 billion in damages to residents and businesses that paid for the off-market NFL Sunday Ticket package. That’s a minimum. The whole thing could cost the NFL up to $12 billion.
To put that into perspective, the NFL’s total revenue in 2023 was $19 billion, including revenue from Sunday tickets, which will be eliminated along with the fines.
All of this points in one direction: The NFL salary cap will certainly be affected, either by being restricted or eliminated altogether.
If the latter is the case, the Packers don’t have to worry too much. In fact, they will benefit from signing Love as soon as possible since the salary cap is still in place.
If the former is true, Love could be the new Bad Luck Bryan meme. As Mosqueda put it:
“How can Green Bay pay Love $55 million a year, the amount paid to both Trevor Lawrence and Joe Burrow, when they have no idea whether or not the salary cap will drop significantly in the next few seasons?”
It’s not just that Love’s earning potential could suffer. It’s also that the Packers may have an incentive to wait to sign him to get more clarity on the entire situation. He could enter the 2024 season without a contract, with the risk of injury or poor performance further diminishing his contract prospects.
The Packers should take a deep breath and do their best to get a handle on these new developments. That said, signing Love before the season is probably still the best approach. If they truly believe he’s their guy, they should lock him in while they can instead of thinking too much about it. Solid starting quarterbacks don’t grow on trees in the NFL. Those with the potential to be one of the league’s top five quarterbacks are even rarer.
