Green Bay Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari said he believes the team’s selection of quarterback Jordan Love in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft is going to ignite a spark in Aaron Rodgers.
In fact, Bakhtiari contends, it’s going to do more than that.
“Let me tell y’all something right now: Look out!” Bakhtiari said during NFL.com’s ‘Draft-A-Thon’ LIVE show. “Aaron is about to be on fire.”
Bakhtiari, 28, didn’t stop there.
“Look, he’s already great when he is just chill,” Bakhtiari said. “But when I’ve seen him when he gets riled up … Wooo! Getting my hair raised up right now, thinking about this.”
The Packers sent the Miami Dolphins a fourth-round pick (136th overall) on Thursday night in order to flip from the 30th to 26th pick and take Love.
Love will sit and learn behind Rodgers, who is one year older (36) than Brett Favre when Rodgers was drafted 24th overall in 2005. Rodgers is entering his 16th season, while Favre was entering his 15th season in 2005.
Love completed 61.9 percent of his passes for 3,402 yards, 20 touchdowns and 17 interceptions last season, with the latter figure the most in the FBS. That was a major step back from 2018, when he completed 64 percent of his passes for 3,567 yards, 32 touchdowns and six interceptions.
Love will surely have time to develop, as Rodgers is entering only the first year of a four-year, $134 million extension he signed in August 2018. He has cap hits of $21.6 million, $36.4 million, $39.9 million and $28.4 million over the next four seasons.
Rodgers himself sat for three seasons behind Favre before taking over as the Packers’ starter in 2008. In his career, he has thrown for 46,946 yards with 364 touchdowns and 84 interceptions over 174 starts, earning two MVP awards and eight Pro Bowl selections. He also guided Green Bay to the Super Bowl XLV championship.
–Field Level Media
