With two seasons under his metaphorical belt, we’ve got a good sample size of what life looks like under quarterback Jordan Love.
Love helped the Green Bay Packers quickly rebuild after Aaron Rodgers departed, and Love took them to the playoffs in both seasons as the starting quarterback.
He truly came into the spotlight in the second half of the 2023 season and looked like he was emerging as one of the NFC’s top quarterbacks entering last season. Unfortunately, his Week 1 injury lurked all season and sapped some of his juice. Coupled with the unreliability of the team’s receivers, Love’s 2024 season was good overall, but he didn’t quite build upon his success late in 2023.
Entering Year 3 as a starter, expectations are high for Love, who was briefly the NFL’s highest-paid quarterback. It might be Love’s third year as Green Bay’s starter, but it’s his sixth season in the league, and the Packers paid him big starting QB money. Plus, Love is filling the shoes of one of the most celebrated quarterbacks of all time.
That means the measure of success looks different for Love compared to other quarterbacks in his age range. So, what does Love need to do in 2025 to firmly cement himself as one of the conference’s best quarterbacks?
Even in a year where he missed multiple games, Love still had a solid season. Completion percentage has never been Love’s strong spot. Still, even with injuries and receivers prone to drops, Love completed 63.1% of his throws for 3,389 yards and 25 TDs.
Unfortunately, that included 11 interceptions, which led the league at one point. Fortunately, those occurrences became less frequent as the season progressed.
Ideally, receiving will improve to make Love’s life easier. Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks experienced drop issues throughout the 2022 season. Still, that wasn’t the case in 2023, so there’s optimism that this issue can be resolved. If first-round receiver Matthew Golden can start strong, he can improve the passing game immediately. Couple that with an expected larger target focus for tight end Tucker Kraft, and the receivers can raise Love’s floor.
An improved running game should also help the case. The Packers reinforced their offensive line to be better in run blocking, and a healthy MarShawn Lloyd can elevate the group while offering an appealing target as a receiver.
The offense is poised to be better than the 2024 version, and that should help Love.
But you aren’t paying a QB $220 million to simply manage the offense. You want the quarterback to squeeze the most amount of production possible from his weapons and take Matt LaFleur’s offense to new heights.
While the receivers weren’t reliable, Love also didn’t live up to his standards in big games against the NFC’s best.
In Green Bay’s six losses last year, Love threw eight TDs to eight interceptions, a higher amount of turnover-worthy plays, and completed just 58.6% of passes. Love was fighting through injury, but he wasn’t able to start or finish strong in these games.
A faster start in general is something Love and the offense need to improve. The offense would often start slowly in these divisional and conference games, creating a significant deficit. It led to a one-dimensional approach where Love forced riskier throws. If the Packers can adjust their game plan to start fast and control the game’s cadence, we’ll see more good from Love.
The slow start isn’t just limited to individual games. In both of Love’s starting seasons, the offense didn’t really take off until around midseason. Love’s eight-game stretch to end 2023 and his 2024 “Toyotathon” performance showed what he can be at his best, and we need more of that in September and October.
A Pro Bowl nomination would be the clearest sign that Love is taking a step forward and gaining more national recognition. The NFL’s top quarterbacks are mostly in the AFC, leaving the NFC wide open and ripe for a new king. And a strong start makes that much more likely. Starting to get hot in late October or early November isn’t enough to garner fan votes.
Of course, Pro Bowl voting is somewhat silly and often determined by factors other than on-field success. Last season, Brock Purdy, Dak Prescott, and Matthew Stafford represented the NFC, with Jalen Hurts (who played in the Super Bowl), Baker Mayfield, and Geno Smith as alternates. Love outplayed most of this group. However, missing time, starting slow, and not having the same marketing as other QBs kept Love off the list.
Love will also have to contend with Jayden Daniels this season, who already looks like a young star. And if the rival Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings look good under their young signal callers, it’ll make standing out in the NFC even more difficult.
If Love can start quickly and get the Packers off to a hot start, he’ll be in the limelight early and more likely to get votes. Again, the Pro Bowl isn’t the end-all be-all, and the results are often janky. Still, it would be a good symbolic victory to prove Love is heading in the right direction.
Love has converted many of his doubters after two seasons, but he still needs to take a leap forward to establish himself as an NFC and Green Bay legend. A Pro Bowl would go a long way toward marking that progress, and an All-Pro would be even better. Leading a strong offense that can start hot and improving his decision-making to minimize interceptions are tangible keys toward getting those honors.
