Jordan Love among three Packers on Pro Football Network’s top 100 list

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Although the Green Bay Packers are considered Super Bowl contenders, only three players made it to the Pro Football Network’s Top 100 Players for the 2024 NFL season.

Jordan Love is the highest-ranked player, ranking 58th overall and 11th among quarterbacks.

“Love finished second in the NFL in touchdown passes (32), fifth in pass efficiency and ninth in QBR while leading Green Bay to nine regular-season wins and a wild-card victory over the Cowboys,” PFN’s Dallas Robinson wrote. “In 2024, Love could be an MVP candidate while leading the NFL’s youngest offense.”

Love took the NFL by storm. After a rocky first half of his first season as a starter, Love threw 18 touchdown passes and just one interception to help the Green Bay Packers win six of their final eight games.

“It’s just been great to see how much he’s developed over the last year,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said. “It’s fun to be around him, to see him grow as a leader and as a player and to see him make the big steps he did last year to get us to where we are now. I expect more of that.”

A total of 14 quarterbacks made the list, including Aaron Rodgers of the Jets at number 80. Love is the only NFC North passer in the top 100.

Cornerback Jaire Alexander is 90.

“Jaire Alexander’s high-end game is as good as that of almost any NFL cornerback, but injuries have kept him off the field in 2021 and 2023,” Robinson wrote. “However, he was selected to the All-Pro second team in 2020 and 2022, allowing a sub-70 passer rating in both seasons. If he stays healthy, Alexander is the best player in a rebuilt Packers defense.”

Alexander, who was a top-100 10-of-11 cornerback, played in just 11 of a possible 34 games in 2021 and 2023. Even when he played last season, his performance was far from his usual standard. However, he likes the new defensive direction being implemented by coordinator Jeff Hafley and participated in OTAs this year after skipping voluntary drills last year.

“I feel like I can do so much more and show so much more consistently, and I’m ready to tackle that,” Alexander said.

He added: “I think the most important thing is just understanding that even though I’m on an island all the time, all day, what matters later in the season is everyone being there and the chemistry that we’re building now. You’ll see it.”

The last Packers player on the list is safety Xavier McKinney at No. 96. The Packers made a splash in free agency by signing the best available veteran at the position.

“Xavier McKinney should be an immediate addition to the Packers’ renewed backbone,” Robinson wrote. “The Alabama product played the best football of his career in 2023, spending time deep, in the box and manning the slot while playing over 1,000 defensive snaps.

“McKinney allowed the fifth-lowest passer rating (52.1) among safeties with at least 200 coverage snaps.”

He is also one of the best tacklers at this position, which leads to this remarkable statistical comparison between him and Darnell Savage, the five-year starter whom McKinney replaces.

McKinney in 2023: 116 tackles, three interceptions, 11 passes defensed, 5.7 percent missed tackles (fourth of 74 safeties with at least 500 snaps).

Savage in 2023: 50 tackles, zero interceptions, one pass defensed, 18.5 percent missed tackles (69th of 74).

McKinney is the sixth and final safety on PFN’s list.

“If you look at his point of attack (on tape),” defensive backs coach Ryan Downard said, “he can play deep zones. He can also play in undercover. He can play in man coverage. He can fit into the run game. He has a natural feel for fitting into the run game, and then he can blitz.”

“He missed tackles in the single digits. He has in his career, and when you get single digits like that, I think he’s usually a pretty good tackler. Adrian (Amos) actually was when he was brought in. That was his strength, tackling, but X has all these other things.”

In the NFC North, the Detroit Lions have five players, including four in the top 50, the Minnesota Vikings have three and the Chicago Bears have two.

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