Acme Packing Company
It’s been five years since the Packers traded up for Jordan Love in the 2020 NFL Draft. Let’s look back at the results.
The Green Bay Packers are one of the more reserved teams when it comes to drafting in the first round. They’ve rarely made trades up the board. Instead, they stand pat and target positions of high value.
That has resulted in a variety of selections over the past seven years, with the Packers taking cornerbacks, defensive linemen, linebackers, and even a wide receiver in 2025 with Matthew Golden.
However, there was one move that stood out among the rest: the trade-up in 2020 for quarterback Jordan Love. One of the most shocking moves in recent draft day history, the Packers found their future signal-caller while Aaron Rodgers was still on the roster, creating an eventual succession plan to keep their window open.
Five years later, let’s revisit the Jordan Love trade and see how it worked out for all sides.
The trade happened on draft night, so both sides knew exactly the pick numbers that would be involved.
The Packers struck gold with the move up for Love. Initially seen as a shock and graded by many analysts as one of the worst picks in the first round, Love has panned out for Green Bay to the tune of a four-year, $220 million contract extension.
Of course, it was puzzling at the time, given that Green Bay was contending for a Super Bowl. Love also sat out the first two seasons of his career as Rodgers’s backup. But, he broke out in his first year as a starter, throwing for 4,159 yards, 32 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions, while leading Green Bay to the divisional round of the playoffs.
The Packers fell in the Wild Card this year, and Love dealt with some injuries, but he is their quarterback of the future and one of the top signal-callers in the NFL.
The biggest impact for Rodgers was sitting in a meeting room for two years with his replacement. It immediately started a countdown on the end of his time with the Packers, much like his selection marked the beginning of the end for Brett Favre. Except, in this cae, the Packers traded up for Love instead of waiting for Rodgers to fall and taking the best player on their board.
On the field, though, the Packers probably could have used some help for the MVP Rodgers instead of selecting a bench player in the first round.
Rodgers was eventually traded to the New York Jets in 2023 for a slew of picks, and that absolutely needs to be mentioned when discussing the Love trade.
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