SAN JOSE, Calif. — He did not know if he would finish his NFL profession where he started it, with the Giants.
It is troublesome for any skilled athlete to see that end line.
But Julian Love did believe something about his future following the 2022 season.
“I thought I’d at least be there a few years longer,’’ Love said this week during a media session for Super Bowl 2026, an occasion that exhibits how far — geographically and professionally — Love has superior from his time with the Giants.
Love is a important half of a “Dark Side’’ protection that carried the Seahawks this far, a beginning security who brings excessive management and smarts to the subject on a weekly foundation.
Love’s project Sunday will be various, and his intent will be to make life insufferable for second-year Patriots quarterback Drake Maye.
Julian Love is pictured before the Seahawks’ Jan. 17 playoff recreation against the 49ers. Imagn Images
Moving from the East Coast to the Pacific Northwest was not a journey Love envisioned he would take.
As it turns out, this relocation completely matched a player and a team, with excellent outcomes.
“Everyone has a chip on their shoulder,’’ Love said. “I carry a large one. I’m very level-headed, form of cool, collected. People thought I wasn’t a certain kind of player. A decade of my life, I’ve performed actually good ball and when you watch me play, I put a good product on the subject. I’m a if-you-know-you-know kind of player and I don’t care if you don’t.’’
There have been many, many textual content messages saluting Love from varied Giants gamers and folks in the constructing who stay fond of him.
That is a lengthy listing.
Players usually come and go with out leaving an indelible impression; he was an exception.
Love arrived in 2019 as a fourth-round choose from Notre Dame and did not set up a full-time function in his first three seasons.
Julian Love is pictured during the Giants’ 2022 recreation against the Vikings. AP
He performed some security, some nickel nook.
In 2022, defensive coordinator Wink Martindale appreciated Love’s versatility and made him a common starter for the first time in his profession.
The Giants made the playoffs, and it felt as if Love and Xavier McKinney would be their security tandem for several more years.
At the bye week in 2022, the Giants supplied Love a three-year, $22.5 million extension, with $10 million in assured cash.
Love was pondering more alongside the traces of $10 million a 12 months and declined the supply.
It was unlucky for him that the security market went in the tank that 12 months.
After the season, the finest he could discover was a two-year, $12 million deal from the Seahawks with $6 million in assured cash — far under the Giants’ bye week supply.
Love’s illustration took the Seattle supply back to the Giants to see if they would match it.
By then, the Giants had moved on, as they were still under the impression Love was in search of $10 million per 12 months.
Julian Love runs with the ball after recovering it during the Giants’ October 2022 recreation against the Ravens. Getty Images
“At one level, there were extension talks, the values did not align,’’ Love said. “I saw myself in a tier barely above where they had me. It was form of just a betting-on-yourself kind of factor. I have a lot of love for folks in that group, Mr. [John] Mara … so a lot of love and appreciation. But I love where I’m at.’’
Why not?
Love and spouse Julia welcomed a son, Noah, during their time in Seattle, and they are anticipating their second little one.
Love grew up outside of Chicago and still thinks of himself as an East Coast man.
Julian Love celebrates with his son, Noah, after the Seahawks won the NFC Championship recreation Jan. 25. Getty Images
“We love New York, my spouse and I, and we love New Jersey,’’ he said. “We cherished it, the folks, the meals, it had a little bit of a grit to it that we got a little accustomed to, like Chicago. In phrases of life, everything, going out to Seattle aligned for us. Seattle is stunning, it’s slower, and the followers are so good.’’
Love, 27, endured an injury-filled 2025 season, beginning only eight video games because of a hamstring difficulty.
He came back for the remaining 4 regular-season video games and both playoff video games.
Love said he speaks usually with defensive lineman Leonard Williams about their shared time and shedding with the Giants and now their shared success with the Seahawks.
They have been collectively for the previous seven years.
In their first three seasons collectively, the Giants went 4-12, 6-10 and 4-13.
Love lastly skilled some successful in 2022 when the Giants went 9-7-1 and won a playoff recreation.
Love with the Seahawks went 9-8 in 2023, then 10-7 in 2024 with first-year head coach Mike Macdonald and soared to 14-3 in 2025, with two more playoff victories to catapult them into the Super Bowl.
The Giants went 7-27 the previous two seasons, main to the firing of Brian Daboll and the hiring of John Harbaugh.
“It’s been the story of two cities, for positive, for me,’’ Love said. “I don’t know, it’s powerful. I think that’s the appreciation that me and Leo form of have is that we know what it’s been like. It’s powerful, it impacts your mentality, it impacts possibly your private life outside the recreation, shedding, particularly if you’re a competitor. Yeah, I’m grateful.’’
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