Packers quarterback keeping perspective entering Year 4 as QB

Wes Hodkiewicz

This story originally appeared in the2026 Packers Yearbook. A slightly updated version is being republished here for all packers.com readers.

GREEN BAY The walk out of Lambeau Field had a different feel forJordan Lovethis offseason compared to his first six in Green Bay.

In the past, the Packers quarterback was prone to having his feet beneath him but his mind aflutter, often contemplating the day ahead on his way out of the building.

How was practice? What's tomorrow's schedule look like? What's the first thing I need to do once I get home?

That last answer took on greater meaning earlier this year when Love and his wife Ronika welcomed the birth of a daughter, Rayna, who has been a galvanizing force in Love's life.

Suddenly, Love is more than just QB1. Now, he's a husband and father and there's a tranquility that comes with the added responsibility of becoming "Dad."

"It definitely changes your perspective," Love said. "Before I was coming home just worried about what I gotta do, what I got going on, how I prepare. Now I go home and it's making sure Ronika is good, make sure Rayna is good. Change a couple diapers and make sure everything is revolving around her. Make sure she's set up."

Midnight wakeup calls are part of that, but so too is football.

It's only been three years since Love succeeded the legendary Aaron Rodgers, but he's already become the leader of the Packers' locker room and the face of the franchise.

He's the first quarterback to lead the Packers to the playoffs in each of his first three seasons as a starter, having thrown for 10,929 yards, 80 touchdowns and 28 interceptions (97.8 passer rating) in 47 regular-season games.

Love is one of only three quarterbacks in the NFL to throw 80-plus TD passes with fewer than 30 INTs since 2023, alongside former NFL MVPs Lamar Jackson and Matthew Stafford.

Off the field, Love's profile has mushroomed. He started his own foundation, "Hands Of 10ve," and was honored last season as the club winner for Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year.

After a few changes to the Packers' roster this offseason, the 27-year-old quarterback enters the 2026 season as the longest-tenured player on the team.

Love has come a long way from the rookie first-round pick in 2020 trying to emulate one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history under the most challenging developmental circumstances in the modern era amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Six years later, Love has mastered Head Coach Matt LaFleur's offense. He's playing free and instinctually, in full command of what's happening at the line of scrimmage until the ball is snapped.

Serving as the ultimate indicator of Love's grasp of the scheme, LaFleur let his starting quarterback call plays during the second half of Green Bay's thrilling 42-38 comeback win over Arizona in the team's preseason finale.

"To watch where he came from to where he is now, I don't know if anybody would have guessed that he could come that far," LaFleur said. "That's a credit to him. Certainly, I think it was a benefit not having to be rushed into it. You build up a bunch of scars. And getting to sit back and learn from a guy like Aaron, I think, was extremely beneficial. I think that's a big reason as to why he's been able to do that at such a high level."

That's just the beginning, though. Fueling Love's offseason training was the memory of how 2025 ended, a difficult 31-27 loss to the rival Chicago Bears in the NFC Wild Card playoffs.

As the Loves awaited the birth of their daughter, the couple chose to spend most of their offseason in Green Bay a rarity, especially for a player of Love's stature, as most players look to avoid frigid Wisconsin winters.

If he wasn't at a hospital visit and checkup for Ronika, Love was training and breaking down film with longtime quarterbacks coach Steve Calhoun, whom he flew to Green Bay for workouts.

Like every offseason since they started working together, Love and Calhoun watched every game Love played in 2025. They dug into the details, charting Love's footwork, movement in the pocket and overall decision-making.

"All the things I'm doing that you don't really notice throughout the season, we have that time to really sit down and look at everything," Love said. "If there's a drill we can come up with to emulate some of the movements I do in the game or something I didn't do as well or I missed a throw, we'll sit down and put in a couple drills to work on that."

Drilling was a bit more challenging this winter since Green Bay isn't exactly bustling with pass-catchers in the offseason. The few who were in town, like burgeoning tight endTucker Kraft, were rehabbing season-ending injuries.

So, Love and Calhoun recruited recent graduates from nearby Division III St. Norbert College to catch passes from the Packers quarterback instead.

Love had full use of the Lambeau Field weight room, though it admittedly was a "ghost town." There was a peacefulness Love learned to appreciate, though, especially with all the noise that comes with playing quarterback at the game's highest level.

With training on point and Ronika and Rayna doing well at home, Love was in the zone when the Packers returned to the field for organized team activities in May.

The physical and mental growth was obvious to Packers quarterbacks coach Luke Getsy, who mentored Love during his first two seasons in Green Bay before he was hired as Bears offensive coordinator in 2022.

"It was a lot of fun when I stepped back in it and got to see him really running the show and him in complete control and the comfortability," Getsy said. "One of his best traits is just that cool, calm, collected mentality, and then just seeing that match with all the high-level functionality of the mental part of the game, it was really cool to see."

Life is quite a bit different from the last time he and Getsy worked together. Shortly after Getsy's departure, Love bore the weight of replacing Rodgers. He threw for 4,159 yards with 32 touchdowns in 2023, leading to a life-changing contract extension with the Packers the following summer.

Yet, what continues to impress LaFleur, Getsy and the rest of Love's teammates is how he remains the same person he was when the Packers traded up to take him 26th overall in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Authenticity is everything for Love. It's how his parents, Orbin and Anna, raised him and it's the standard Ronika and his sisters hold him to regardless of how brightly his star shines.

"I've always tried to stay that way," Love said. "I want to be the same person every day and not let money or being the starting quarterback of the Green Bay Packers or any of that stuff change me. Just keep my head down, keep working and go from there."

Now comes Year 7. It's a reality that hits Love as he scans the renovated facilities inside Lambeau Field, a night and day difference from when he first came to Green Bay six years ago.

Rodgers is gone but the Lombardi Trophy he helped bring to Green Bay sits near the entrance of the Packers' locker room. Love sees it every day he clocks in.

It's part of the responsibility that comes with being the starting quarterback of the Packers, which Love fully embraces. While still in the initial stages of his career, Love quickly points out how fast time flies.

Love need only to look at Ronika, Rayna and their growing family for that reminder, and the prospects turned playmakers such as Kraft,Christian WatsonandJayden Reed.

With an All-Pro pass rusher likeMicah Parsonsin the fold, there is something special brewing in Green Bay. Love can feel it and now is the time to seize that moment.

"You only get so many opportunities with the guys that you have in this building," Love said. "We have a lot of talented guys yet to be able to accomplish what we want to and winning the NFC North and obviously making a run and hopefully getting to the Super Bowl.

"The clock's always ticking. We gotta make the most of it."