On Saturday, Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love suffered a left thumb injury in a preseason game against the New York Jets.
After trying to play through the injury in Monday’s practice and having to change his operation on certain handoff plays, he is undergoing surgery on Tuesday to repair the issue. He had the thumb taped during Monday’s practice.
Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst said on Tuesday that Love could return to practice as soon as next week.
“Obviously, you guys saw him out there, he certainly was able to function,” Gutekunst said on Tuesday in reference to Monday’s practice. “But as we looked at all the options and he did as well, the best option I think for him to get back the fastest and feel the best was to do this. He wanted to go out there yesterday to kind of see how it felt, and once we got through that, we made the decision.”
Gutekunst said that Love will be ready for the team’s Week 1 battle against the Detroit Lions.
“We’ll get him back in plenty of time,” Gutekunst said. “I don’t foresee this affecting him long term at all.”
Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur addressed potential concerns about how the injury, which is to Love’s non-throwing hand, could hinder the rising star.
“Well only if it limits you in your ability to go out there and perform the task at hand — no pun intended there,” LaFleur said on Tuesday. “From what I’ve been understanding that it’s a pretty relatively quick recovery, so hopefully we’ll be able to get him back out in some capacity some time next week to work on and work through — because I’ve never personally dealt with a situation like this. So there’s going to be some learning curve along the way in terms of how do we adapt and how do we adjust.”
Love has led the Packers to back-to-back playoff appearances in each of the past two seasons, his first two seasons as the team’s starter.
In the 2023 season, he completed 64.2 percent of his passes for 4,159 yards, 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions across 17 games. He also ran for 247 yards and four touchdowns.
In the 2024 season, he completed 63.1 percent of his passes for 3,389 yards, 25 touchdowns and 11 picks, along with 83 yards and one touchdown on the ground. He appeared in 15 games.
In his first season as the starter, he was able to help the Packers win a playoff game before they were eliminated in a tight battle against the San Francisco 49ers. Last season, Green Bay didn’t enjoy any postseason success, as Love and company struggled against the Philadelphia Eagles. The hope is that this season will mark a step forward.
A preseason thumb procedure certainly isn’t the way Love wanted to get things started, but it seems like there is optimism about how quickly he will be able to bounce back. With any luck, he will indeed return to action soon and won’t show any signs of ailment once he does.
There is less than one month remaining before the Packers open their season.
