Packers’ Jordan Love not a top-10 quarterback?

The offseason slump has us firmly in its grip, and the dead time between the end of minicamp and the start of training camp is leading to something everyone enjoys watching.

Lists and rankings!

Recently, Matt Miller’s Substack page, known as The Draft Scout has rated every starting quarterback, including Jordan Love of the Green Bay Packers.

Miller’s premise was to divide each quarterback into classes, but also to rank them based on those classes.

Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes was first on the list, which should come as no surprise. The two-time Super Bowl winner has been the best player in the game since he stepped into the starting lineup in Kansas City.

It was listed in a separate tier.

Behind him was what Miller called the “elite” tier, which included only Buffalo’s Josh Allen and Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow.

The third tier consisted of playoff quarterbacks.

One glaring omission from this list? Love.

Love was listed in a category directly below what Miller called playoff quarterbacks, a list that included Justin Herbert of the Chargers, Lamar Jackson of the Ravens and former Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

The fourth level on Miller’s list was entitled “Young Savages.”

Love was listed as the first quarterback at that level and 11th overall, ahead of Trevor Lawrence of the Jaguars, Brock Purdy of the 49ers, Tua Tagovailoa of the Dolphins and Kyler Murray of the Cardinals.

About love, Miller wrote:

If Love plays like he did last year, he’ll climb this list quickly. His first season as a starter in Green Bay was magical, and Love surpassed Rodgers’ 2022 level.

Miller is right. Love had a difficult start to the season, playing with an offense that was historically young and inexperienced.

The Packers stumbled to a 3-6 start, leading to questions about whether Love could be eliminated with a one-and-done if the Packers’ season continued to go well.

In the home stretch, however, Love was brilliant. The Packers won seven of their final 10 games, including a blowout victory at the Dallas Cowboys, before coming just minutes away from defeating the eventual NFC champion San Francisco 49ers.

Love threw 23 touchdowns and just three interceptions during the Green Bay Packers’ winning streak at the end of the season.

Love will soon be rewarded with a contract extension that could make him the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL.

“We’re having those conversations right now,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said in a recent radio appearance on Milwaukee’s 97.3 The Game. “I think the beauty of it is that these things aren’t always easy or quick, but both parties want the same thing. We’d certainly like to get that done before training camp.”

Gutekunst spoke the language of a general manager confident he had found his quarterback of the future. It’s also a stark contrast to the commitment, or lack thereof, he publicly showed to Love when the Packers were trending high in the draft last November.

“We have 10 games left,” Gutekunst said. “It’s going to be a very important 10 games. I think he’s done a lot of really good things. I really like how he’s responded to the adversity, how he’s led the team. Again, we have to get better as a unit and I expect that to happen in the next 10 games.”

Had Miller paused the season and made his quarterback rankings at the time of Gutekunst’s comments, Love likely would have ended up near the bottom of the rankings. He led the league in turnovers and the Packers struggled to find anything remotely effective on offense.

Instead, Love recovered and the Packers feel like they have found their man.

Furthermore, there is legitimate debate about how far Love can climb on this list when she finishes in 2025.

Of the 10 quarterbacks above him, Love has some arguments to be ranked ahead of players like Dak Prescott of the Cowboys, Matthew Stafford of the Rams and Jalen Hurts of the Eagles. Each player has a longer history of success (Prescott, Stafford) or has played in a Super Bowl (Hurts), which likely earned them the nod.

While it would be hard to argue that Love should be ranked ahead of Rodgers, Jackson and Herbert, if Love plays a full season the way he finished his 2023 season, he will be on the shortlist for the NFL MVP award.

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