Miami traded its third pick of the first round to the Green Bay Packers, who used it to choose Jordan Love, a quarterback from Utah State. This raises instant questions about whether he is being brought in to succeed Aaron Rodgers — now 36 — just as Rodgers arrived as Brett Favre’s replacement when he was 35.

Given that the Packers made it to the N.F.C. championship game last year, the team could have tried to find a few missing pieces to help Rodgers get back to the Super Bowl.

Instead, they put down a marker on the post-Rodgers era, whenever that begins. Despite throwing the most interceptions (17) in Division I in 2019, Love is the most tantalizing prospect since Patrick Mahomes, who, despite obvious bountiful physical ability, had to quell the perception that playing in an Air Raid offense at Texas Tech would hinder him in the N.F.L. (Spoiler alert: It hasn’t.)

From a strictly stylistic standpoint, Love resembles Mahomes. Love’s arm strength, coupled with a flair for extending plays, passing on the run and throwing from odd angles, produced a string of absurd highlights. His film — from last season, especially — also contains instances of lapsed mechanics, forced throws and shaky field vision. Like another former Mountain West quarterback, Josh Allen, whom the Buffalo Bills drafted No. 7 over all two years ago, Love excelled as a sophomore, when he was surrounded by strong personnel, then backslid when the quality around him diminished. Besides playing with nine new offensive starters last season, Love also acclimated to a new coaching staff and offense.

Jim Nagy, the 18-year N.F.L. scout who is now the executive director of the Senior Bowl, said Love has the potential to develop into the best quarterback taken this year but that, ideally, he will sit for a season. “In hindsight, we’re all saying, ‘How the heck did Patrick Mahomes last to 12?’” Nagy said, referencing the pick Kansas City used to draft him. “If Jordan gets to the right situation and everything clicks for him, we’re going to be sitting here in three or four years saying, ‘How did players X, Y and Z get drafted ahead of Jordan Love?’”