GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Jordan Love says he’s optimistic that he and the Green Bay Packers can agree on a long-term deal before the start of training camp next month.
“It’s what I’ve heard,” the 25-year-old quarterback said Tuesday during the opening day of the Packers’ minicamp.
Love signed a one-year extension last May that included $13.5 million in guaranteed money with another $9 million in incentives. Love has been eligible to sign a new extension since May 3, the one-year anniversary of that most recent deal.
Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst told a Milwaukee radio station last week that the team wants to get an extension done before the start of training camp.
The Packers hold their first training camp workout July 22, the same day the NFL’s only publicly owned franchise conducts its annual shareholders meeting.
Love said he enjoys keeping tabs on the progress of negotiations.
“Yeah, I like being in the mix,” Love said.
Love boosted his stock as a first-year starter last season by completing 64.2% percent of his passes for 4,159 yards with 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions while helping the NFL’s youngest team go 10-9 and advance to the NFC divisional playoffs.
The 2020 first-round pick from Utah State threw 22 touchdown passes and one interception during a nine-game stretch that culminated with a 48-32 upset of the Dallas Cowboys in a wild-card game.
Love sees plenty of room for improvement.
“The main thing for me is understanding where to go with the ball, always making the right decision, not forcing the ball downfield and trying to fit it in certain windows, things like that,” Love said. “Just process, and understanding where I need to go with the ball, and then pocket movement, making smaller movements in the pocket, not being so quick to try and get out of there, but to stay in the pocket and try and find those receivers downfield. That’s something I’ve been working on.
“Also throwing on the move, going right, being able to get my shoulders downhill, my body downhill and not be drifting away from the throw.”
NOTES: Safety Xavier McKinney and cornerbacks Jaire Alexander and Keisean Nixon didn’t practice Tuesday. Packers coach Matt LaFleur said they had excused absences after participating in organized team activities for the past few weeks. “Certainly those are three guys that have workout bonuses in their contract, and they fulfilled their requirements and did a really good job and actually exceeded what they could have done,” LaFleur said. … The Packers had a giant video screen on the sideline for Tuesday’s practice, offering replays that enabled players to discover immediately what they did right or wrong on a particular drill. LaFleur said other teams already were doing this, so he wanted to experiment with it as well.
