Where Does Love Rank Among NFL Quarterbacks?

With one start in three seasons, the Green Bay Packers' new QB1, Jordan Love, has a scant resume but "all the tools."

Author:
Bill Huber
Updated:
May 24, 2023 5:33 PM EDT
Original:
May 24, 2023

In this story:

Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – There are three great mysteries in the world.

What caused the Big Bang that created the universe, and what was there before it?

Are we alone in that universe?

Where does Jordan Love rank among the universe of professional quarterbacks?

Scientists might have a better chance of definitively answering the first two questions before Love makes his first start as the Green Bay Packers’ new No. 1 quarterback on Sept. 10 at the Chicago Bears.

Pro Football Focus’ Sam Monson gave it a shot by ranking the NFL’s 32 starters. Love checked in at No. 26 on the list.

“We have very little idea what Love can become,” he wrote.

The Packers’ first-round pick in 2020, Love’s regular-season resume consists of 83 passes thrown during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Love performed poorly in his first career start at Kansas City in 2021, and he performed poorly off the bench at Detroit in 2021. On the other hand, he was excellent in place of an injured Aaron Rodgers at Philadelphia in 2022.

All three of those performances come with asterisks, which makes projecting what he did in those games forward to this season a fool’s errand.

The game at Kansas City came after Rodgers was inactive due to COVID. So, Love’s big debut came on relatively short notice in one of the toughest environments in the NFL.

The game at Detroit was the meaningless finale for the Packers, so Love was surrounded mostly by backups.

The game at Philadelphia had Love throwing nine passes in the fourth quarter of a game in which the Packers trailed by two scores for both of his possessions.

The Packers felt good enough about his progress, though, to feel relatively confident in turning the page at quarterback and trading Rodgers to the New York Jets.

“I just think the way he’s matured as a man” gives the Packers confidence, coach Matt LaFleur said after Tuesday’s practice. “The control that he has within the room, out on the field, I think that he maximized his opportunities these last couple years in terms of just learning from one of the greatest to ever play this game. I think he really took advantage of that.

“Certainly, it’s never an easy spot to follow a guy like that, but I think he’s got all the tools, and it’s on us to try to help support him through the ebbs and flows that are sure to come. It just happens with the nature of that position, and try to get these other guys around him to play to the best of their ability so that he doesn’t have to be perfect all the time.”

Speaking of inexperienced quarterbacks: Bryce Young, the No. 1 overall pick by the Carolina Panthers, ranks one spot ahead of Love at No. 25. The Houston Texans’ C.J. Stroud, the No. 2 overall pick, is No. 30. The Indianapolis Colts’ Anthony Richardson, the No. 4 overall pick, is No. 32.

In the NFC North, the Minnesota Vikings’ Kirk Cousins is ninth, the Detroit Lions’ Jared Goff is 16th and the Chicago Bears’ Justin Fields is 18th.

What about Rodgers? Here’s the full story at PFF.