Utah State Professional Athletes

Jordan Love didn't take a single snap in Green Bay's preseason finale against Arizona — and he may have still been the most impactful Aggie on the field.

Head coach Matt LaFleur revealed after the Packers' 42-38 win over the Cardinals that Love served as the offensive play caller for the entire second half, operating from the sideline in a role that blurred the line between star quarterback and coach-in-waiting. It's an unusual arrangement for a franchise QB in a meaningless August game, but LaFleur's decision was deliberate: keep Love sharp, involved, and authoritative without exposing him to preseason injury risk.

The Packers ended the game with consecutive touchdown drives to close out the win — drives that, by LaFleur's own account, Love was orchestrating from the headset. Third-string QB Kyle McCord executed the plan, throwing four touchdown passes including the go-ahead score in a fourth-quarter comeback. But the architect calling the shots was the former Utah State standout.

The episode isn't just a feel-good sidebar. It signals something meaningful about Love's standing in Green Bay's operation. LaFleur has long praised his quarterback's football IQ, and entrusting him with play-calling duties — even in a preseason setting — reflects a level of organizational trust that goes well beyond what most starting QBs are granted. Love also acknowledged what he described as the team's "lowest point" during joint practices with Arizona earlier in the week, pointing to a self-awareness and vocal leadership that aligns with the expanded role LaFleur handed him.

As the Packers head into the regular season as NFC North contenders, Love's command of the offense — from both under center and, apparently, the sideline — is a legitimate reason for optimism in Green Bay.

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Elsewhere in the NFL for Aggie alumni, the news was harder: Utah State linebacker Kyrese Rowan was waived by the Denver Broncos during roster cutdowns, ending his bid to make the 53-man squad.

On a more encouraging note, wide receiver Jalen Royals led the Kansas City Chiefs' offense in snap counts during Preseason Week 2, a strong signal for a young receiver trying to carve out a roster spot on the defending champions heading into final cuts.

Love's sideline turn was the week's signature story — a reminder that Utah State's most prominent NFL export isn't just playing at an elite level, he's thinking the game at one too.

The Chip on Love's Shoulder

For Utah State alumni tracking the NFL, the most compelling storyline this preseason has a familiar name at the center of it: Jordan Love.

The Green Bay Packers quarterback has been candid about how the team's Wild Card playoff loss to Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears is driving the 2026 offseason. Love has made clear the sting hasn't faded — and that Green Bay is treating that postseason exit not as a wound to nurse, but as a source of fuel. For a franchise that has long measured itself in January outcomes, that kind of publicly acknowledged hunger carries weight.

It's the right mentality at the right time. Love is entering a pivotal stretch of his career — past the proving-himself phase, firmly in the win-now conversation — and the Packers appear to be building around that reality.

Preseason Form

The bulletin-board motivation is one thing. What Love did on the field against the Denver Broncos last week added some substance to it.

Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur had originally intended to get his starters more than one drive in Denver. Love made it count regardless, capping a first-team series with a touchdown pass before the ones handed it over to the backups. It was a brief look — LaFleur has been measured about preseason reps for his starter — but the efficiency was notable. Love didn't force anything; he operated cleanly and found the end zone.

A film review of Love's preseason Week 1 action against Pittsburgh told a similar story: sharp reads, decisive release, no wasted motion. The argument gaining traction in Green Bay circles is that it's time for LaFleur to lean on Love more and trust him to carry the offense rather than defaulting to the run. His preseason work, limited as it is, has done nothing to undercut that case.

The Bigger Picture

Love's development trajectory has been one of the more quietly remarkable quarterback stories in the league. A Logan, Utah kid who carved out a career at Utah State before becoming Aaron Rodgers' handpicked successor in Green Bay — the arc has always been unusual. Now, three-plus years into the starting role, he's operating like a quarterback who knows exactly what he wants and what it costs to get there.

The Packers are still sorting out the backup quarterback situation behind Love, which speaks to where the organizational focus sits: the starter isn't the concern. The concern is building everything around him correctly.

For Aggie fans, Love remains the marquee name in the NFL alumni network — a legitimate franchise QB on a team with playoff expectations. If the Wild Card loss lit a fire, the early preseason signs suggest it's still burning heading into September.

The 2026 regular season can't come soon enough for him — or for Green Bay.

Jordan Love Is Playing His Best Football — and the Numbers Are About to Catch Up

Jordan Love has never looked more like a franchise cornerstone, and Green Bay's record books are about to reflect it.

The Utah State product enters the 2026 season with legitimate momentum to climb the Packers' all-time statistical leaderboards, according to Yahoo Sports, which spotlighted Love and running back Josh Jacobs as the two Green Bay stars best positioned to make historic moves this year. For Love, the trajectory is striking: he's ascending as a passer at precisely the moment when sustained volume is starting to compound into legacy-level numbers.

What makes that climb more meaningful is how Love is getting there. A Fox Sports analysis pushed back against the notion that Love's recent counting-stat dip signals any kind of regression, arguing instead that his command of the competing reads and pressures quarterbacks face — what the piece calls the "constant conflict" of twin impulses — has actually made him a more complete, elite-level player. The case is that Love has matured beyond raw production metrics, mastering the cognitive architecture of the position in ways that don't always show up cleanly in a box score.

That evolution hasn't softened the expectations around him — if anything, it's raised them. The Sporting News reported that Love received a stern warning as Packers training camp rolled into its early August sessions, a signal that Green Bay's standards for its franchise QB remain uncompromising heading into a year with real stakes. Love's ceiling is high; the margin for drift is not.

Together, the picture is of a quarterback who has done the hardest part — surviving the learning curve in Green Bay's offense, earning the room's trust, and developing a feel for the game's subtler demands — and is now entering a window where everything could crystallize.

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Around the League

Utah State's NFL footprint extends well beyond Love's starting role in Green Bay. Bobby Wagner, the Aggies' most decorated NFL alum, continues his career with the Washington Commanders, where he remains one of the more respected veteran presences at linebacker in the league.

In Denver, Kyrese Rowan landed on the Broncos' radar this week under notable circumstances. Yahoo Sports reported that the Broncos signed a pair of wide receivers — including Rowan — as injury depth cover after star wideout Jaylen Waddle suffered a strain that is expected to sideline him into next week. Rowan, listed as a linebacker among Utah State's active alumni, is getting his shot in an AFC West environment that won't lack for competition. It's a low-security roster spot, but NFL opportunities don't get smaller than zero.

Elsewhere, Jalen Royals is with the Kansas City Chiefs, Deven Thompkins remains on the Raiders roster, and Jalen Davis is in Cincinnati with the Bengals — all part of a Utah State alumni contingent that has quietly built one of the more respectable NFL presences of any Mountain West program.

The week belongs to Love, though. If the Packers' offense performs anywhere near expectations in 2026, Aggie fans could be watching a former Logan, Utah kid etch his name into Lambeau lore — one record at a time.