Jordan Love 'day-to-day,' Packers No. 2 quarterback

The status of Jordan Love continues to be “day-to-day.” Following the Green Bay Packers preseason game with the New York Jets on Saturday night, Packers coach Matt LaFleur said Love still hasn’t been cleared to return.

The second-year quarterback’s shoulder was dinged up in the preseason opener against the Houston Texans last week. While his status for the preseason finale against Buffalo is unknown, LaFleur did make clear Saturday that Love is Green Bay’s No. 2 quarterback and is still behind Aaron Rodgers.

Evaluating Jordan Love injury 

The former first-round pick received the most action he’s seen since he was drafted against the Texans. He performed well, completing 12 of 17 passes for 122 yards, adding on a touchdown pass as well in a 26-7 loss. 

The injury did not appear to be too serious. Love’s MRI came back clean and was not worried about his health after the conclusion of the preseason game; instead, he said being held out was merely precautionary.

“Obviously, [I was sitting out for] precautionary reason,” Love said. “I think I’ll be ready to go next week.”

The shoulder strain kept him sidelined from practice this week, and from Saturday’s preseason game against the Jets. On Tuesday, Green Bay signed Jake Dolegala. If Green Bay did not sign Dolegala, Kurt Benkert would have been the only available quarterback to play against the Jets.

Aaron Rodgers on second-year quarterback

While Love may be Rodgers’ eventual replacement, the latter has been complementary to his successor throughout training camp. 

“He may not ask a ton of questions, but I know he’s watching,” Rodgers said earlier this summer. “We put on a clip from last year, going through some install that we’re putting in, in the next couple of days. Watching him from last year to this year, you can just see that he’s been honing the craft. Working on his timing, and his tempo, and his drops and his balance.”

While rumors persisted that Rodgers held disdain for Love, he squashed them quickly. Rodgers revealed he maintained a good relationship with Love throughout his disagreements with the front office this offseason.

“I reached out a number of times [to] check on him [and] see how he’s doing,” Rodgers said. “I didn’t hold things from him. I let him know where I was at mentally and what I was thinking about. And hopefully he appreciated that.”

Rodgers seems to be taking the opposite approach from his predecessor. Brett Farve famously protested the idea that it was his job to mentor Rodgers when the Packers drafted the young quarterback out of Cal in 2005.