If Jordan Love is the plan, would a first-round QB be crazy for the Packers?

The Green Bay Packers can’t fall prey to the sunk-cost fallacy. The team has three years already invested in Jordan Love and, if Aaron Rodgers’ return to the light leads him to conclude it’s time to move on, it would be easy for the team and fans to insist Love receive a long leash to prove he’s the proverbial guy. But if the Packers move to Love with a contract decision on him looming already next offseason, drafting a rookie quarterback, especially one with high-end physical tools, makes sense for Green Bay. If the right guy isn’t there, then pass and give Love the best chance to succeed. Both paths work for Brian Gutekunst and Co.

This is not to say it’s time to give up on Jordan Love. Ted Thompson drafted Brian Brohm in the second round in 2008 after concluding that Rodgers would take over for Brett Favre in one of the most profound displays of confidence in an unproven quarterback we’ve ever seen. Even the guy who believed so strongly in Rodgers that he told the most beloved Packer of his generation to take a hike thought it prudent to hedge his quarterback bets.

Trading Rodgers theoretically affords the team extra draft capital to pull this off while still re-tooling on the fly. Let’s say they get the No. 7 pick from the Las Vegas Raiders or the 13th pick from the New York Jets. Brian Gutekunst would still stand in a position to take a high-level prospect if the other pick goes to a quarterback, particularly at No. 7 where true blue-chip players will likely be available.

As we get closer to the draft in late April, it may require a top-10 pick to grab one of the toolsy quarterbacks in the draft or be in a position to take a flyer on a unique talent like Bryce Young if his size worries teams and his stock falls. That’s the kind of move that would fit with the Packers.

Putting resources into a Will Levis-type prospect doesn’t offer the same reward. Let the desperate teams take those risks. Even C.J. Stroud, who projects as the cleanest quarterback prospect in the class seems to lack the upside, at least based on the current consensus of draft opinions, to become an elite quarterback.

In other words, don’t take a quarterback just to take one. Take the right one.