​ESPN’s poll of scouts, coaches, and executives placed Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love outside the top 10 at the position as the 2026 season approached. The panel, drawing on more than 70 votes compiled by ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, asserted that Love deserved honorable-mention status rather than a place in the top tier, with Jared Goff of the Detroit Lions at No. 9 and Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears at No. 10 earning the final spots on the top-10 list. A tiebreaker-like process was used to determine the ultimate 10th spot, reflecting the close competition among several quarterbacks for that last position.
From Fowler: “Four quarterbacks—Williams, Seattle’s Sam Darnold, Green Bay’s Jordan Love, and Washington’s Jayden Daniels—were very close in voting for the 10th spot. So we took it to tiebreakers, gathering input from several general managers and executives. Why did Williams barely win out for the final spot on the list? He’s the hardest of the four for teams to prepare for and defend.”
In 2025, Love completed 66.3 percent of his passes, threw 23 touchdown passes against only six interceptions, and posted career highs in passer rating (101.2) and ESPN’s QBR (72.7) during a season defined by efficiency. However, he also spent time on the injury report for the second consecutive year, and his team’s slower, more balanced offensive approach limited the volume of eye-popping statistics. The Packers faltered late in the season and were eliminated from the postseason in Chicago. Even so, several coaches and scouts praised Love’s development.
“Control of the offense, protection and route adjustments, he has really grown in those areas,” one coach said. “I don’t think he gets enough credit for playing the position consistently well, and he has the athletic traits to match it,” another NFC scout commented.
Looking ahead, Love may need another efficient and productive season—and ideally a healthy one—before the NFL as a whole fully views him as a top-tier quarterback. The list of honorable mentions included Darnold, Daniels, Brock Purdy, Baker Mayfield, Trevor Lawrence, and Jalen Hurts, underscoring the breadth of competent quarterbacks considered in the conversation. In total, 20 different signal-callers received top-10 votes in the poll. For context, Buffalo’s Josh Allen vaulted to No. 1, taking the top spot from Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, who had held the lead entering the 2025 season.
This recap originally appeared on Packers Wire and reflects ESPN’s compiled rankings of scouts, executives, and coaches assessing Jordan Love’s standing among NFL quarterbacks as the 2026 season looms, with the emphasis on Love being outside the top 10 and acknowledged as an honors candidate rather than a consensus top-10 quarterback.