GREEN BAY, Wis. — The story of Jordan Love’s development has long been that he had the luxury of sitting safely behind Aaron Rodgers for two years, learning from a master while avoiding bad habits and delaying the pressure of the pass-rush and the immediate weight of NFL stardom.
But that narrative isn’t true. Not exactly. Love was Green Bay’s starter in 2021 for one game. And it was a catastrophe for the rookie quarterback. Even he’ll admit it.
In a Week 9 matchup, with Rodgers sidelined, the Kansas City Chiefs overwhelmed Love with the most predictable concept you can throw at a rookie: the all-out blitz. He wasn’t ready for it. So the Chiefs kept doing it. They blitzed him on 54% of his dropbacks and pressured him on 46%. Love completed only 55.9% of his passes and threw an interception. It was ugly, and the Packers lost 13-7.
“I didn’t have answers where I could change the play at the line of scrimmage and feel comfortable enough to do that stuff in that game,” Love told me during training camp. “That was kind of a wake-up call.”
That was the moment that Love started to become an NFL quarterback. It wasn’t from sitting and watching. It was from playing and failing.
In 2021, as a rookie in his first NFL start, Jordan Love didn’t have any answers for the Kansas City blitz. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
“In that moment, you feel like you let the team down,” Love told me. “For me watching it back, there was just so much good stuff to learn from and grow from. A team in the NFL — if you’re not able to beat whatever they’re giving you, they’re gonna keep coming with it, and that’s what they did.”
He added: “I’m glad it happened.”
When Love returned to the starting lineup two years later, he was prepared. He had answers for the blitz. Love had made it his mission to have full command at the line of scrimmage to set his offensive line protection, to audible to a “kill” call or to change the routes of individual receivers.
When it comes to beating the blitz, he’s now the NFL’s best, tied with Rams QB Matthew Stafford, the reigning MVP. Last season, they both had a .30 expected points added per dropback against the blitz, per Next Gen Stats. Love generated explosive plays on 21.3% of his dropbacks against the blitz, and completed 6.2% of his passes over expected, per NGS. And Love did it last year without any one receiver who could’ve been Stafford’s WR2, with Davante Adams ranking above Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs and the Packers’ other receivers from 2025.
It’s Love’s ability to beat the blitz that has quietly made him one of the NFL’s most underrated players.
“That’s where I’ve grown the most,” Love told me. “That’s Aaron’s specialty [at the line of scrimmage]. And all that stuff stems from him seeing pre-snap, ‘OK, that is going to be a nasty play. Let me change it. Let me get to one thing else I like.’ And all people being on the identical web page when he is signaling stuff out.
“I’ve needed to develop into that.”
Right here’s an instance. A number of Packers offensive linemen introduced this play up once I spoke with them within the locker room. Inexperienced Bay was enjoying the Bears in Week 14 when, on third-and-10 within the pink zone, Love acknowledged pre-snap what was as soon as his Achilles heel: the all-out blitz. So the Packers QB calmly signaled to his high receiver, Christian Watson, to regulate his route. With seven rushers coming, Love took simply 2.6 seconds to throw. Fading away, he lofted the ball to Watson, who was open for a straightforward landing.
“If the quarterback does not see it … the play’s screwed,” Packers guard Aaron Banks mentioned. “We do not actually care in the event that they blitz or not. To be sincere, we belief [Love]. We belief that he’ll make the correct determination, put the ball in the correct place, and he trusts us to select up the blitz.”
It have to be irritating for a defensive coordinator — growing and designing a play for months, solely to see it defeated handily. Defensive coordinators solely get to run 10 to fifteen performs per recreation, usually trotting out their base protection with customary assignments and guidelines. So once they get that likelihood, the play should not crash and burn. Love makes certain that it does.
It have to be even worse for the pass-rushers.
“From my private expertise, I do not assume so,” Packers famous person edge Micah Parsons mentioned, jokingly, once I requested him if it was tough to hurry Love.
However … nicely, the stats don’t lie, my man.
When Parsons was a Dallas Cowboy, he performed towards Love as soon as. Parsons rushed Love 19 occasions and managed only one strain. That was, on the time, the lowest pressure rate of his entire career.
And so it made sense that Parsons lastly conceded the problem.
“That six-foot-five body. He is tremendous elusive within the pocket. He can actually simply make any throw. Watching it from the sidelines within the household, I do not assume folks grasp how good he’s towards the blitz,” Parsons mentioned. “He has that potential to look over and nonetheless discover guys that he must.”
Jordan Love (10) and Micah Parsons (1) converse to Erin Andrews after beating the Lions on Thanksgiving final season. (Photograph by Gregory Shamus/Getty Photographs)
Love has so many redemptive qualities — the bodily items (like top), the work ethic, the excessive soccer IQ and the distinctive arm expertise. All of them mix collectively to make Love right into a one-man blitz-beater. Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich referred to as it Love’s most underrated high quality.
“That’s in all probability it,” Stenavich informed me. “His potential to face within the pocket and make these throws for certain. … He has no worry.”
Love is such a fast thinker and processor — and never simply towards the frenzy. Stenavich mentioned he trusts Love to soak up performs in simply someday. In uncommon instances, they’ve put new performs into their recreation plan in the midst of a recreation.
“He is capable of see an image after which visualize it in his mind after which exit and execute,” Stenavich informed me.
The knock on Love is the counting stats. And with a lot deal with fantasy soccer, that is likely to be all that issues to some followers. He completed the 2025 season with 3,381 passing yards, 23 passing touchdowns and 6 interceptions in 15 video games. It’s, frankly, nothing particular.
In 2025, Love did not throw the ball all that always when in comparison with Stafford, for instance. It is what has saved Love out of the MVP dialog for the previous few years. Nonetheless, in 2025, Love’s EPA/dropback (.19) tied Stafford for second within the NFL. Patriots QB Drake Maye, the MVP runner-up, completed first at .25. In superior metrics and effectivity stats, Love is preserving tempo with MVP-caliber quarterbacks.
“He could not lead the league in passing yards or something like that, however I believe the most important factor is, such as you mentioned, the EPA. After we are throwing the ball, what occurs?” Stenovich mentioned.
Love’s recreation is likely to be an acquired style if you evaluate him or Josh Allen and even Maye. But it surely wasn’t way back that Love had 4,159 passing yards, 36 whole touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 2023.
All these numbers fail to characterize all of the progress Love has made on the line of scrimmage — which reveals all of the progress he’s made behind the scenes within the assembly rooms and on the follow subject. Which reveals the quiet reality.
He is elite.
Love entered the league as a highly-touted however equally-doubted prospect out of Utah State. (That is proper: Utah State.) At that time, it did not take a lot to cease him — it took simply the best blitz in a coach’s playbook.
Now?
You’ll be able to’t idiot Love. Not with the blitz. Not if you drop seven or eight into protection. Not if you throw him wrinkles.
Sure, he discovered from these two years on the bench. However that one time the Packers threw the rookie into motion would possibly’ve put him on the quick monitor for the MVP hunt in 2026.
