Jordan Love Benefitted From the Jaire Alexander Situation This Offseason

Jaire Alexander has never been shy during his seven years in Green Bay.

Still, this offseason was a different situation, with his contract dilemma creating one of the team’s most dramatic — and protracted — ongoing storylines.

It started in January when Green Bay’s season ended, and Alexander said he didn’t know if he’d be back with the team.

So far into June, there has been no official change to his status. All of this has sneakily taken attention off quarterback Jordan Love.

Namely, what happened with the passing game down the stretch in 2024?

Over the past few months, that question has echoed throughout pockets of Packers social media.

Many noted that Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks were near the top of the charts for drops among wide receivers league-wide, with nine apiece.

As a team, the Packers had the third-most drops.

Or has Love himself regressed? The quarterback who led Green Bay into Arlington the year before and carved up a Dallas Cowboys defense in a decisive playoff win wasn’t exactly the guy on the field throughout 2024.

Was it the injuries? Love missed two games against the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans early in the season and exited games without returning later on against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears.

No matter what you think the answer is, skepticism about Love and the passing game could have built up quickly this offseason. Instead, the spotlight was fully on the Alexander saga.

General manager Brian Gutekunst never fully advocated for keeping Alexander on the team. Instead, he would hedge his answers and pontificate on how Green Bay could opt to keep Alexander. Numerous reports flooded the timeline claiming that the Packers were shopping Alexander but couldn’t find the value on the return end they desired. A later report suggested the Packers were close to a deal that involved Alexander restructuring his deal with whatever team would be acquiring him. When it became apparent that wouldn’t happen, the deal fizzled out.

After all the smoke cleared, it’s starting to seem like the most likely outcome is that Alexander remains in Green Bay.

But let’s not get distracted. What about that passing game that couldn’t establish any rhythm?

Matt LaFleur is shutting down any notion that Love regressed in 2024:

Love suffered an MCL sprain right out of the gate in Week 1 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Weeks later, Love exited with a groin injury in Jacksonville and didn’t return. In Week 18 against Chicago, Love left with an ulnar nerve injury in his elbow and didn’t return to that contest either.

The injuries make it much more difficult to determine whether Love took a step back or if injuries and drops hampered him.

LaFleur also noted the drops:

So, you know, three games is a significant amount of time and you’re not going to produce as much from a numbers perspective … and also, let’s be honest — we’ve talked about this — we did have a lot of drops last year. So there’s other circumstances that play into it. I think all in all, everybody’s going to be better, though.

Regardless of the culprit or culprits, No. 10 is under pressure heading into the 2025 campaign. Love will be entering his third year as a starter. Although judging him by this standard isn’t fair, Green Bay’s previous two quarterbacks will have busts in Canton shortly after the younger of the two hangs up his cleats.

Still, it’s fair to note that the passing game needs more consistency and must inflict more fear into opposing defenses than it did a year ago.

The Packers believe in Love. His teammates still rave about what they see. Running back Josh Jacobs has said on multiple occasions that he expects Love to be the next superstar quarterback. Love will have a chance to show up and show out with the passing game early in 2025 with tests against the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders.

Quarterbacks get the most praise when a season is going well and the most scrutiny when it isn’t. It comes with the territory.

The offseason is when there’s not much to do except scrutinize, and doubts can begin to fester. Love hasn’t had to deal with that much so far this spring and summer. For that, he can thank Jaire Alexander.