‘Gunslinger’ Jordan Love Stagnates in Athletic’s Quarterback Tiers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The jury is out on Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love.

That’s the verdict from Mike Sando’s annual Quarterback Tiers story for The Athletic.

Sando asked 50 NFL coaches and executives to put 34 veteran quarterbacks into tiers, with Tier 1 being the best and Tier 5 being the lowest. The individual grades were averaged, with quarterbacks who averaged a perfect 1.0 to 1.5 being Tier 1, 1.5 to 2.5 being Tier 2, 2.5 to 3.5 being Tier 3 and so on.

Love’s average was 2.4, which was better than last year’s 2.5. And his ranking inched up from No. 14 last year to No. 13 this year.

The quotes in the story are fascinating because they are all over the map, which is how Love has performed during his two seasons as a starting quarterback.

Sando quoted four coaches. One thought Love could be “rattled.” One thought, because of the aggressive nature of Green Bay’s offense, that “there is something different about” Love. Another thought he was being hamstrung by coach Matt LaFleur’s offense.

“He is a little bit of a gunslinger, and at times it gets him in trouble, but he is more consistently good than bad,” one coach said.

Statistically, Love as a first-year starter in 2023 completed 64.2 percent of his passes for 4,159 yards, with 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Love in 2024 completed 63.1 percent of his passes for 3,389 yards, with 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. While the completion percentage was down and his interception percentage soared (from 1.9 percent to 2.6 percent), his yards per attempt jumped from 7.2 to 8.0.

The split opinion probably is a byproduct of Love’s inconsistent performance, especially in big games last year, and the impact of last year’s knee and groin injuries.

“I think the consistency and accuracy is the biggest one,” Love said last week of where he’s looking to improve. “I think what we work on in the offseason is always having that balance in the pocket, so just continue to get into camp and when you start getting that live rush around you, just trying to stay as balanced as possible, as clean with my feet and not getting into any instances where I’m a little off or if I start hopping around, things like that.

“So, just trying to stay calm in the pocket, be accurate on all my throws and keep understanding where I need to go with the ball. As a quarterback, once you develop that pre-snap (and) knowing what the defense is going to do and trying to have a good picture of where you might be going with the ball, and as the play plays out, just being able to dot people. I think that’s the best you can be at that position, so just continue to keep building that understanding of the playbook and where I need to go with the ball on every ball and the accuracy and balance in my feet.”

While the Packers are obviously committed to Love being their quarterback, it remains to be seen whether he can be the type of quarterback who can “carry his team each week” and the “team wins because of him.” That’s part of the Tier 1 definition.

“I think he’s constantly learning,” LaFleur said recently. “And he’s got that mindset, which I think you need to have.”

There were five Tier 1 quarterbacks, including the Bengals’ Joe Burrow and the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, who the Packers will host this season.

Love was one of nine quarterbacks in Tier 2. The Packers will face four of them: the Commanders’ Jayden Daniels, the Lions’ Jared Goff, the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts and the Cowboys’ Dak Prescott.

The Bears’ Caleb Williams was No. 23.

“He’s got the talent to go up, but in terms of processing ability and getting the ball out of his hands, it was the worst we played against,” a defensive coordinator told Sando.

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