Packer Central

Where’s Jordan Love in NFL Quarterback Rankings?

The Packers’ Jordan Love doesn’t rank among the NFL’s elite quarterbacks but he could be knocking on the door, according to two sets of quarterback tiers.

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love / Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Jordan Love isn’t Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson, but the Green Bay Packers have a better quarterback situation than most teams.

The 33rd Team’s Dan Pizzuta ranked the quarterback situations for all 32 teams. Mahomes, etc., ranked in Tier 1 – “This Guy Makes Life Easier.” Love is one of five quarterbacks in the second tier of quarterbacks who are good but need help.

Love posted a passer rating of 96.7 in 2024, which is right on par with his 96.1 in 2023. The difference, of course, is how Love finished those seasons.

In 2023, the Packers started 3-6 but rallied into the playoffs by winning six of their final eight games. During that stretch, he ranked second in passer rating. His late-season success is why the Packers were considered Super Bowl contenders entering 2024.

However, after five consecutive games with 100-plus passer ratings, Love finished with a thud.

The Packers lost Week 17 at Minnesota, Week 18 against Chicago and the wild-card game at Philadelphia. During that stretch, 30 quarterbacks threw at least 45 passes. Love ranked 29th in passer rating, 25th in completion percentage and 27th in yards per attempt.

Yeah, but what about drops? By turning all drops into completions, Love would have ranked 26th in completion percentage, according to PFF.

Injuries, of course, were an issue for Love in 2024. If he’s healthy – and he gets some help – he should rebound.

“Love got a big contract in the offseason but it’s paid in a way that doesn’t hinder the Packers from doing anything in free agency, if they choose to do so,” Pizzuta said. “Green Bay only has $32 million charged on the cap at quarterback for the 2025 season.

“With a full season of health, Love should look more like the 2023 version, making the throws he still showed he could make with fewer forced passes leading into turnovers.”

Love will need help to rebound. Not only did the young receiver corps spin its wheels alongside Love, but big-play receiver Christian Watson figures to miss the first half of the upcoming season while coming off a torn ACL.

Love’s end-of-season slump coincided with Watson’s end-of-season injuries. Watson was inactive for the loss at Minnesota, barely played before suffering the ACL injury against Chicago and obviously didn’t play against the Eagles.

In a separate story, Dan Wilkins of The Score used TruMedia data to put the quarterbacks into tiers. Love was in the third tier of quarterbacks “knocking on the door.”

Starting with a Toyotathon reference, Wilkins said of Love: “There are some rough patches of decision-making and then some playmaking highs that few in the league can match. He's oddly reminiscent of Brett Favre. Complimentary? Derogatory? Depends on the day. The upside is what championship dreams are made of.”

In two seasons as Green Bay’s starter, Love is tied for fifth with Buffalo’s Allen with 57 touchdown passes. However, only six have thrown more interceptions than Love’s 22. Overall, he’s a respectable 13th in rating.

“The thing that stood out the most is the way the ball comes out of his arm. He be spinning the ball,” running back Josh Jacobs said at the Super Bowl. “I think that was the biggest thing watching film on him before I came in, but then actually getting to practice with him, I’m like, ‘Oh, yeah, this dude’s got it. He’s definitely got it.’

“I think it’s about putting it together on a consistent basis. When he figures it out, he’s going to be special.”

At the start of training camp, general manager Brian Gutekunst handed Love a record-setting contract. While Love’s final numbers were disappointing, he did improve from a 13th-ranked 7.18 yards per attempt in 2023 to a fifth-ranked 7.97 in 2024.

“I think we’re very, very excited about his growth, not only as a player but what he’s doing in our locker room as a leader,” Gutekunst said at the end of the season. “I’ve talked many times about how even keel he is, and I think his growth and the way he manages our football team has been pretty impressive.

“Obviously, he went through some things this year, battled through some injuries that he hadn’t done that before, came out the other side of it, and was really proud of him how we went through that. He’s leading our team exactly how we wanted to do it. So, I’m excited about it.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.