The Big Lead

Rex Ryan Hates Packers Jordan Love Pick, Loves Mitch Trubisky Starting, Hmm

By Brian Giuffra

Rex Ryan was very upset with the Packers for drafting Jordan Love.
Rex Ryan was very upset with the Packers for drafting Jordan Love. / Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images
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Rex Ryan went on an interesting rollercoaster of takes on ESPN Sunday NFL Countdown today, getting BIG MAD when the subject of the Packers drafting Jordan Love came up and then saying he loves the Bears starting Mitch Trubisky because "he was the No. 2 pick in the draft for a reason."

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Calling the Packers picking Love No. 23 overall in this past year's draft “the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen in the 50 years I’ve watched the draft,” Ryan must have forgotten the Bears moved up to select Trubisky No. 2 overall in the 2017 draft with Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson still available.

Or maybe he didn't, because Ryan then said the Bears starting Trubisky over Nick Foles in Week 1 is the right call because, well you see the quote above about him being the No. 2 pick for a reason. He called Trubisky an "athletic phenom" and referred to him as "Maserati Mitch," though Ryan did admit Trubisky played more like "Mitsubishi Mitch" last year.

Bad nicknames aside, Range Rover Ryan (couldn't help myself) makes contradictory takes here. The Packers picked Love because they believe he has potential. That's the same reason the Bears picked Trubisky. The latter hasn't panned out in the NFL yet. The former is about to sit on the bench for his first game. While reports coming out of Packers camp suggest Love has struggled, the potential of him being a quality quarterback in the NFL seems about as high as Trubisky. It might be higher depending on what we see from Trubisky this year.

In fairness to Ryan, he did say he didn't like the Love pick because the Packers should have selected someone to help Rodgers. That's pretty boilerplate, though he did also question whether the Packers "realized" they were one game away from the Super Bowl last year, which I'm pretty sure they did/do realize.

Ryan is known for his foot-in-mouth proclamations. This one has some potential. But I will say, at least he did it with the energy I'm looking for in my pregame NFL shows. He may get it wrong, but he does it with style.