The Green Bay Packers need the Jordan Love pick to work out.
By trading up for Love in the first round of the draft three years ago, the Packers effectively placed a timer on Aaron Rodgers' career in Green Bay, one that ran out in April by trading him to the New York Jets.
The Packers made the bold call to draft Love, similar to when they selected Rodgers in the first round in 2005 when they still had Brett Favre.
Ted Thompson took a risk by drafting Rodgers, but it paid off perfectly. Rodgers led the Packers to a Super Bowl victory and won four NFL MVPs. Brian Gutekunst took a similar risk by drafting Love, and now it needs to work out.
Nobody knows how well Love will play. Even the Packers. They hedged their bets by signing Love to a one-year extension instead of picking up his fifth-year option. It gives the team an easier route out of the contract a year from now.
The Packers hope Love plays well, but it's no guarantee.
NFL Mock Draft 2024: Early projections reveal nightmare scenario for Packers
If Aaron Rodgers plays 65% of the snaps for the Jets this season, the Packers will enter next year's draft with two first-round picks. A recent mock has the Packers using one of them on a quarterback.
Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire has put together an early 2024 mock draft.
The Packers' first pick is at No. 6 overall, which they use to draft Notre Dame tackle Joe Alt. With David Bakhtiari nearing the end of his career, a tackle in the top 10 makes sense.
However, Farrar's next pick is notable. At No. 25, in the pick from the Jets, the Packers select Oregon quarterback Bo Nix. Farrar notes that the team "may be in a situation where the Jordan Love succession plan didn't go quite as everybody hoped."
A nightmare scenario for the Packers. After trading up for Love and then developing him for three years, Green Bay hopes he can start for many years. If the team is ready to move on after only one season as the QB1, it hasn't gone to plan.
The Packers missed out on the top two quarterback prospects in the mock draft, USC's Caleb Williams and North Carolina's Drake Maye, which would mean rolling the dice in the 20s, just as they did with Love in 2020.
It will be a nightmare scenario for the Packers if they are already looking to replace Jordan Love in less than a year.