GREEN BAY, Wis. — Jordan Love is an NFL quarterback with two impulses above all others.
The first is the one I suspect coach Matt LaFleur is most proud of, in large part because it’s the one LaFleur and his staff have instilled in Love over the course of the 27-year-old QB’s five years with the Green Bay Packers.
“I’m always trying to get to third-and-short,” Love told me Tuesday at Packers camp.
But there’s another impulse. And perhaps this one is innate, in part because of Love’s rare height, weight, speed, agility and — most important — arm strength. That impulse?
“I always want the big play,” the 6-foot-4, 220-pound QB told me.
Of course, in football, as in life, you can’t “always” have two distinct things.
Get into third-and-short.
Or hunt the big play.
“Definitely in constant conflict,” Love said with a laugh.
(Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
The difficulty of quarterbacking in today’s NFL — with an uptick in conservative, shell defenses that force passers to be painstakingly patient — is managing that conflict. But when a QB gets it right, his coaches are happy and his receivers are happy and he — in turn — is happy.
“Everybody’s happy,” Love agreed. “It all comes down to winning.”
Nowadays, that’s all Love seems to care about. While his counting stats have progressively decreased, his advanced stats have never been better. His touchdown totals have declined, but his mastery of the game is luminescent on his game tape.
Love has turned into The QB Nerd’s favorite quarterback, with film-watchers and data-crunchers touting him endlessly. But then the fantasy football owners and box-score warriors treat him as their scapegoat, pointing to disappointing game totals, flagrant errors and interceptions (of which there are not many).
Love landed outside the top 10 among QBs in at least one executive poll this offseason. He wasn’t one of the top 10 rated QBs in “Madden 27.” And he’s never been a Pro Bowl selection — just a one-time alternate joining the likes of Mac Jones and Shedeur Sanders.
Where is the love?
The first thing you have to do with Love is throw the counting stats out the window. To some degree, that seems to be what he’s doing.
“He’s very aggressive when it comes to looking for home runs,” Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich told me Tuesday. “But he’s learned to take what the defense gives him. … It’s what a mature person does, and a mature quarterback. He’s obviously developed into that.”
Now, entering his sixth season under LaFleur, Love said that his job is about “finding those completions.”
That expression gave me pause. You don’t typically think of completions as a game of hide-and-seek. But with all the disguises that defenses show these days, it’s a quarterback’s job to play detective — both before the snap and after. To distinguish fact from fiction. To decipher coverages. That’s where Love told me he felt he’s improved most.
As Love has matured, LaFleur, who calls Green Bay’s plays, has given the QB more authority over the offense. Just listen to Love’s routine after receiving the play call.
“The more years I played, you hear a play and you already kind of know what he’s calling [before he’s finished],” Love told me of LaFleur. “You know why he’s calling the play. You know what the situation is, and so … you’re kind of visualizing the play as he’s calling it.”
The Green Bay QB now knows the play call before Packers coach Matt LaFleur (right) is finished giving it. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)
After relaying the play in the huddle, Love gets to the line to see what the defense has to offer in the way of information.
“I’m thinking about where I’m going to be going with the ball pre-snap and making those notes pre-snap on what I’m going to be doing,” Love said.
So practical.
He’s falling in love with third-and-1 — or even third-and-3.
“You get into that mindset where I’m always trying to get to third-and-short. If there’s a way I can take a checkdown, take the completion, things that are moving the sticks and staying out of these third-and-long situations are always going to help us at the end of the day,” Love told me.
It’s not just about keeping the offense on schedule — which is one form of situational awareness that helps a QB take control of the game. It’s also about setting up his special teams and defense for success.
Packers long snapper Matthew Orzech said there are times when he’s anticipating a long field goal attempt — or, perhaps worse, a punt scenario where the offense is backed up against the goal line. So he is mentally preparing for the opposing unit to bring something nasty in hopes of generating a blocked kick and a touchdown recovery.
But just as things look grim for the special teams unit …
“Somehow he’s able to just take that checkdown to the running back outside that gets us outside the five-yard line,” Orzech told me. “There’s been a few of those for sure where you’re standing there gearing up for an all-out rush, all-out holdup, knowing something crazy is about to happen, but then he just gets you just enough yards on a smart little checkdown that’s not flashy at all.”
That’s how a quarterback adds points or takes them away from an opposing team. We always hear about players doing the little things right. This is one example of the little things that Love does right. One of many.
The Packers QB focuses on finding the right completion — and then, finally, the big completion finds him. Which is why receiver Christian Watson — with his 4.36 speed — and tight end Tucker Kraft — with his 6-foot-5, 260-pound frame – are always waiting. Always ready.
“I’m always hunting [for a big play,]” Love told me. “I want to put pressure on the defense and take the top off. And you’ve got to know when to take those shots and how to weigh the risk of, ‘Alright, I want this shot, but you know it’s not a good opportunity right now.’ [When] we get the perfect coverage for something, [then it’s], ‘I got to be able to hit this down the field.’”
Love’s efficiency isn’t just about an improved completion percentage or success rate. It’s about recognizing the rare opportunities to do what makes him special: unleash a deep ball. And it’s about capitalizing when a defense serves up the chance.
Love’s big plays are so impressive that they almost look like … luck. Like they’re not the type of thing that he can reproduce. But they are. Whether it’s about ball placement or off-platform throwing (or his patented fadeaway jumper), Love has proven he can repeat the improbable.
“It’s only luck when it’s once in a blue moon,” Watson said. “Those kinds of one-off-seeming plays, he makes them consistently, and obviously we make them often.”
In 2025, Love’s EPA/dropback was on par with that of NFL MVP Matthew Stafford, tied for second in the NFL (.19), per Next Gen Stats. Love’s completion percentage over expected was fourth in the NFL. His success percentage was tied for eighth with Jared Goff. His big-time throw percentage was 5.8%, per PFF, fifth highest. He had 27 big-time throws, eighth most.
Christian Watson (9) celebrates with Jordan Love (10) after a touchdown during Green Bay’s NFC wild-card game against the Chicago Bears in January. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
That comfort comes from trust. That trust comes from communication. That communication often stems from failure.
“Anytime anything goes negatively, honestly, we’ll always talk about it,” Watson told me. “I’ll come by after and tell him my thought process, and then he’ll tell me his thought process on the play, just to get a feel for where we’re at there. … What I should have done better? Or what he thinks he could have done better.”
Perhaps it’s fair then to arrive at a logical question.
Is Jordan Love underrated?
“One hundred percent,” Watson said. “I think that when you bring up any of those meaningful quarterback stats, I feel like he’s up there in all of them.”
“Absolutely, absolutely,” Packers receiver Skyy Moore told me.
“Yeah,” Stenavich said. “He may not lead the league in passing yards or anything like that. But I think the biggest thing is, like you said, the EPA. When we are throwing the ball, what happens?”
Good things.
“And that’s a testament to him and what we do as an offense,” Stenavich said.
That’s also a testament to Love’s progress as a passer. And that’s a sign of his ascendance into the realm of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks.
