It’s difficult to truly decipher who Jordan Love is, both as an NFL quarterback and a fantasy football asset. Is he merely an above-average starter, or can he carry a team to a playoff run? Is Love worth being a fantasy team’s only quarterback heading into a season, or is he a high-end backup/desperation “I waited too long” option?
Should You Draft Jordan Love in Fantasy Football?
It’s been quite the unconventional start to Love’s career. He spent two years backing up Aaron Rodgers and looked quite terrible in his limited relief appearances. Fantasy managers and Packers fans alike were skeptical he was the answer when he was handed the starting job after Rodgers left ahead of the 2023 season.
Love wasted no time quieting the critics, throwing for 4,159 yards and 32 touchdowns. He also ran for 247 yards and four more scores, pushing his fantasy production to a very good 18.8 fantasy points per game. Naturally, this had everyone thinking Love would take another step forward in his second year as a starter. Since then, though, things have been quite different.
Love has yet to come close to matching the heights of his debut season as a starter, and it’s pretty easy to pinpoint why. Has he gotten worse as a player? Not particularly. His completion percentage and yards per attempt have been relatively consistent. The difference is his coach stopped letting him throw the ball.
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Here are Love’s pass attempts per game by year:
- 2023: 34.0
- 2024: 28.3
- 2025: 29.2
Love also kind of fooled us a bit in terms of his mobility in that inaugural season starting. He’s run for 283 yards and one rushing score in his last two seasons combined. But the primary issue is the passing volume.
Here is the Packers’ neutral game script pass rate by season:
- 2023: 55%
- 2024: 47%
- 2025: 52%
It has to be deliberate. At some point after that 2023 season, despite Love’s quality play, head coach Matt LaFleur made a conscious decision to “hide” his quarterback as much as possible. As a result, Love failed to average so much as 16.0 PPG in each of his past two seasons.
What does this mean for 2026? Unfortunately, likely more of the same barring a shift in offensive philosophy or favorable touchdown variance.
Love threw for 23 touchdowns last season after throwing for 25 the year before. It’s possible that a disproportionately high number of the Packers’ passing TDs could come via the air. If that happens, Love can push QB1 numbers once again despite limited volume. Otherwise, fantasy managers are hoping that the Packers suddenly call more pass plays, which is not something they’ve shown any interest in doing the past two seasons.
Love’s Redraft Fantasy Football Value
Despite the fantasy-unfriendly nature of the Packers’ offense for its quarterback, Love has displayed a high weekly ceiling when called upon. He had five games of 20+ fantasy points last season, including three games over 25 points. In the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs, Love threw for 332 yards and four touchdowns.
The upside is in there. But since it so seldomly comes out, Love’s ADP is outside the top 15 quarterbacks. There just simply isn’t a compelling reason to go into a fantasy draft planning to make Love your QB1.
It is somewhat reassuring to know Love is there if you need him, though. Most weeks, Love is a safe bet for 200 yards and a touchdown or two, which gives him a solid floor. That’s useful when the alternatives are worse. However, heading into fantasy drafts, managers really want to prioritize the guys who have proven upside.
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There is a cluster of quarterbacks in the QB12-20 range that are all relatively similarly priced. Love is toward the tail end of that, but harping on where he specifically falls is pointless as minor shifts in price could shuffle the order. The relevant fact is that there are roughly nine quarterbacks in that range with very little separating them.
In recent seasons, it’s been more viable to spend premium draft capital on a quarterback than during the 2010s. The rise of the mobile QB has resulted in the elite fantasy quarterbacks not only having higher ceilings, but being more predictable year over year.
However, the real value lies in finding that elite production without having to pay the requisite price. There are potential options out there. Unfortunately, we don’t have any compelling reason to consider Love one of them.
Love is clearly a talented quarterback who, under the right circumstances, could lead the Packers on a playoff run. They can and should believe in him as their long-term answer at the position. But fantasy managers should only take Love if they waited too long on quarterback and he’s the only trustworthy one left.
Love’s Dynasty Fantasy Football Value
Love checks in at QB14 in our dynasty rankings. We like him more in dynasty than redraft, which shouldn’t come as a surprise.
At 27 years old with just three seasons as a starter under his belt, we likely haven’t seen the best of Love yet. He is not a mobile quarterback, which removes the risk that he’s done by age 33/34. That means dynasty managers can expect more than a decade from Love going forward. That longevity is valuable and pushes Love ahead of some superior short-term options who are closer to the end.
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Love is the perfect QB2 for a dynasty Superflex roster. He’s like a lesser Dak Prescott or Jared Goff. The 20 PPG upside isn’t there, but you’re getting a safe, reliable 16 PPG from a good player who is not at risk of getting benched or seeing an unexpected sharp decline in performance.
