Love Makes Biggest Move in The Athletic’s ‘Quarterback Tiers’

A 50-person panel, including seven general managers and eight head coaches, helped The Athletic’s Mike Sando place 30 NFL quarterbacks into four tiers. Here’s what they said about Packers QB Jordan Love.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) during warmups prior to the game against the Baltimore Ravens at Lambeau Field. / Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

GREEN BAY, Wis. – For 11 years, The Athletic’s Mike Sando has called on a panel of NFL general managers, coaches and executives to place the league’s veteran quarterbacks into tiers.

During that span, only Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen and Trevor Lawrence had a larger one-year rise than the Green Bay Packers’ Jordan Love.

Love bolted from No. 27 to No. 14 in Sando’s rankings. He is at the bottom of Tier 2, which is defined as a quarterback who can “carry” his team at times but has a “hole or two” in his game.

The best is yet to come, many of the insiders said.

“Of the guys I think that can ascend to 1, this is the guy that comes to mind,” a defensive coordinator told Sando. “He’s got command of the offense, he can make every throw, he can make plays off-script, he can play on-script, he gets the ball out on time when everything is right and he is more athletic than you think. He’s got a playmaker’s mentality, and he started playing with a confidence that everybody can see.”

Of the 50 general managers, head coaches, coordinators, assistant coaches and executives who made up the panel, one put Love in the first tier, 25 in the second, 23 in the third and one in the fourth.

Love’s ascent, no different than his record contract, is based on his prolific second half of last season.

After a mistake-filled first nine games, in which the Packers were 3-6 and Love ranked at or near the bottom in interceptions, completion percentage and passer rating, Love down the stretch ranked first in interceptions, second in touchdowns, third in completion percentage and second in passer rating.

“He is a 2 going to a 1,” an assistant coach told Sando.

There’s some buyer beware out there, and for obvious reasons. The sample size of excellence is small and he faltered with two interceptions in the NFC Championship Game. Great quarterbacks have to do it again and again – and in the biggest moments – which is why the legendary Mahomes is one of only three Tier 1 quarterbacks.

Still, with the season on the line last year, Love led the Packers to three consecutive wins to close the regular season and posted the highest passer rating by a visiting quarterback in NFL playoff history in the rout at Dallas.

The next challenge for Love will be to respond to whatever solutions defensive coordinators have conjured up during the offseason.

“I think that’s the job of defenses and coordinators is to figure out what we did good last year and have a plan of what they’re going to do to defend that,” Love said after shredding the Ravens in the joint practice on Thursday.

“I’m not putting too much thought into it, I think once we get into the season, it’s one of those things, you can’t really predict what a defense is going to do, you just have to wait until you get out there in the game and kind of see what their flavor (is), what they might be trying to take away, but I think defenses will adjust and figure out kind of the things that worked for defenses last year and the things that didn’t work and probably try to stay away from that.”

The rankings do not include the rookie signal-callers. So, of the three returning quarterbacks in the NFC North, Love trails the Detroit Lions’ Jared Goff (No. 10) but is well ahead of the Minnesota Vikings’ Sam Darnold (No. 29).

The Packers will kick off the season on Sept. 6 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Their quarterback, Jalen Hurts, is No. 11.

After that, the Packers will host the Indianapolis Colts in Week 2 (Anthony Richardson is No. 26), visit the Tennessee Titans in Week 3 (Will Levis also is No. 26), host the Vikings in Week 4, visit the Los Angeles Rams in Week 5 (Matthew Stafford is No. 5), and host the Arizona Cardinals in Week 6 (Kyler Murray is No. 17) and Houston Texans in Week 7 (C.J. Stroud is No. 8).

Click here for the rankings and the full breakdown with additional quotes about Love.

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