Eighteen months ago, when they traded up to land a raw yet physically gifted quarterback late in the first round, the Green Bay Packers surprised a lot of people with their eagerness to embrace a future without Aaron Rodgers.
Among the most stunned was the 21-year-old former Utah State star that the team anointed as Rodgers’ eventual successor.
Until his phone rang on draft night, Jordan Love didn’t think the Packers would consider taking a quarterback so early. Nor did the friends and family members who joined Love to watch the first round in his mother’s Bakersfield, Calif.