Love, Tagovailoa agree to $200 million contracts, resetting the QB market

1st & North: Bears training camp analysis

FOX 32's Lou Canellis offers his analysis on Bears training camp so far.

Miami and Green Bay brought their QBs into the $200 million club on Friday.

Green Bay Loves love

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love has agreed to terms on a four-year contract extension worth $220 million, a person familiar with the deal said Friday.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the deal has not been announced.

Love's new deal includes a $75 million signing bonus and $155 million in new guarantees.

The new deal comes after Love led the NFL’s youngest team to a 10-9 record and playoff berth last season in his first year as a starter while stepping up to the challenge of replacing four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers, who was traded to the New York Jets in April 2023.

NFL Network first reported Love's deal. ESPN first reported the amount of the signing bonus and guaranteed money.

Reports of Love's extension came the same day that Miami's Tua Tagovailoa agreed on a four-year extension worth $212.4 million. Detroit’s Jared Goff signed a four-year, $212 million extension with $170 million guaranteed, and Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence agreed to a five-year, $275 million extension with $142 million guaranteed earlier in the offseason.

The 25-year-old Love hadn't been practicing with the Packers in training camp this week while the contract talks were unresolved, though he had been attending workouts and was participating in all other team activities. Love's contract had been set to expire at the end of the upcoming season.

"Certainly we’re very down the road as far as we know he’s our franchise quarterback and we’re ready to move forward," general manager Brian Gutekunst said Monday while discussing the negotiations. "It’s not like we’re trying to make that decision. But at the same time, we want to put the best team around him we can, and we want to make sure that there’s certainly the structure of it so that we can do what we need to do for our football team moving forward, not only this year but in years to come is very, very important."

The Packers are betting on the promise Love showed during his late-season surge last year.

Green Bay had signed Love to a one-year extension in May 2023 that included $13.5 million in guaranteed money with another $9 million in incentives. That deal gave the Packers time to evaluate Love as he entered his first season as a starter after Rodgers, a four-time MVP, was traded to the Jets.

Love responded by completing 64.2% of his passes for 4,159 yards with 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions last season while improving dramatically as the season wore on.

He threw 21 touchdown passes with only one interception during a nine-game stretch that culminated with a 48-32 upset of the Dallas Cowboys in a wild-card playoff game. Love did throw two second-half interceptions the following week in a 24-21 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

The only other quarterbacks ever to throw for at least 4,000 yards and 32 touchdowns in their first season making multiple starts were Kurt Warner in 1999 and Patrick Mahomes in 2018. The only quarterbacks to throw more than 32 touchdown passes in their first season with multiple starts were Mahomes (50), Warner (41) and Daunte Culpepper (33 in 2000).

Love’s 32 touchdown passes ranked second in the league, behind Dallas’ Dak Prescott (36).

Love had made only one career start before last season. After the Packers traded up to select him out of Utah State with the 26th overall pick in the 2020 draft, Love spent his first three seasons backing up Rodgers.

Tua Time In Miami

The Miami Dolphins have agreed with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on a four-year contract extension valued at a franchise-record $212.4 million, a person with knowledge of the deal said Friday.

At an average of $53.1 million per year, Tagovailoa will rank third in the NFL in quarterback pay behind Jacksonville's Trevor Lawrence and Cincinnati's Joe Burrow. The deal includes $167 million guaranteed, eighth most among quarterbacks, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not at liberty to publicy discuss the details.

ESPN first reported the extension, attributing the terms to the agency that represents Tagovailoa, Athletes First.

The Dolphins did not announce the extension, though the team did post a video of Tagovailoa on social media Friday afternoon.

Tagovailoa was still playing under the contract he signed when the Dolphins made him the fifth overall selection of the 2020 draft. Tagovailoa was looking for a contract similar to those signed by Burrow and Justin Herbert, who were drafted the same year. After their rookie deals, Burrow and Herbert signed multiyear contracts in excess of $200 million.

Throughout negotiations, Tagovailoa participated in the team’s offseason workouts and participated in parts of the first few days of training camp. He was a full participant on Friday.

Tagovailoa, who sustained multiple concussions his first three NFL seasons, positioned himself for a big pay bump with an injury-free and productive 2023. He threw for 29 touchdowns and a league-best 4,624 yards.

The Dolphins reached the postseason but were eliminated in the first round by eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City, extending to 24 years their stretch without a playoff win.

The contract extension will keep Tagovailoa with Miami through 2028.