Jordan Love receives praise, but serious doubts remain over him in Quarterback Tiers

Mike Sando of The Athletic does an incredible exercise every year, talking with coaches, scouts, and executives around the league to design a quarterback rankings split into tiers. This year, it paints a clear picture of how the NFL sees Jordan Love after a full season starting for the Green Bay Packers.

Love is in tier 2, a significant increase compared to last year, when he was in tier 4 because of the lack of evidence of his game. This is the same tier as Lamar Jackson, Matthew Stafford, Justin Herbert, Aaron Rodgers, CJ Stroud, Dak Prescott, Jared Goff, Jalen Hurts, Brock Purdy, and Kirk Cousins. It's a 13-spot jump from Love — something that only Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and Trevor Lawrence have done in the 11 years of the exercise.

“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."

Definition: “A Tier 2 quarterback can carry his team sometimes but not as consistently. He can handle pure-passing situations in doses and/or possesses other dimensions that are special enough to elevate him above Tier 3. He has a hole or two in his game.”

Doubts

Even though Love is much more respected than he was a year ago, there are still obvious questions — and several people around the league are not sure about his level. Love had only one tier 1 vote, and he also had a tier 4 vote. He was at the bottom of tier 2, with 25 tier 2 votes and 23 tier 3 votes.

"Squeaking into the playoffs at 9-8 out of a bad division, I'm going to have to see a little more from him personally before elevating him," said a head coach who placed Love in Tier 3.

Why?

The questions around Jordan Love are mostly fair, because we still have a small sample size of play. What's strange, though, is that CJ Stroud had generally worse advanced numbers in 2024, also a single season of starting experience, and he's already eighth in the ranking — even though they are in the same tier, Stroud had 12 tier 1 votes, 35 tier 2 votes, only 3 tier 3 votes, and no tier 4 votes. Brock Purdy also got ahead of Love without tier 4 votes.

Despite having a top offensive playcaller in Matt LaFleur, Jordan Love played well under tough circumstances in 2023 — it was the youngest and least expensive offense in football last season. So yes, it's ok to want to see more, but it feels like it's applied to Love more than it is to players like Stroud and Purdy.

Related: What was Jordan Love's most unforgettable play of the 2023 season?