NFL coaches and executives name Jordan Love as the league's biggest riser

Mike Sando released the 11th edition of his Quarterback Tiers over at The Athletic this week.

As with each previous edition, Sando surveyed 50 anonymous NFL coaches and executives, asking them for their views on the league's starting quarterbacks. The big question for Green Bay Packers fans is, of course, where did Jordan Love land?

Love finished up as one of 11 quarterbacks placed in Tier 2, ranking 14th overall. According to Sando, a Tier 2 quarterback is one who "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."

Other names in that tier included Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, CJ Stroud, and Kirk Cousins.

Jordan Love impresses NFL coaches and executives in latest ranking

Love was in fact the biggest riser in the 2024 survey, jumping 13 spots in the rankings compared to where he sat last offseason. That was more than double the next biggest riser (Matthew Stafford, who climbed six spots). Sando notes that since the survey began 11 years ago, only four other quarterbacks have made a bigger single-season leap than Love—Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and Trevor Lawrence.

One defensive coordinator was effusive in his praise for Love, saying: "Of the guys I think that can ascend to [Tier] 1, this is the guy that comes to mind. He's got command of the offense, he can make every throw, he can make plays off-script, he can play on script… and he's more athletic than you think."

Love even managed to earn a Tier 1 vote, the only quarterback ranked outside the top 11 to do so. The only three names to earn that title were Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, and Josh Allen.

When asked why he had put Love into Tier 1, that voter said, "watching him with my eyes, I'm like, holy s***, this guy is starting to figure it out in a big way."

The question facing Love—and, by extension, the Packers—in 2024 is whether he can climb to Tier 1 by next season. His predecessor Aaron Rodgers topped the list in eight of the first nine years that the survey took place. Whilst matching that may be out of the question as long as Patrick Mahomes is playing, he certainly has a shot at climbing up another tier.

Many of the voters who expressed concern about Love focused more on the sample size than any fundamental issues with his play. Time will tell if he can prove them wrong.

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