Jordan Love has a golden opportunity to correct one of the NFL’s biggest misconceptions, and one list proves why
The quarterback’s Pro Bowl snub is about to end according to Sports Illustrated’s NFL analyst.
Jordan Love has been one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the NFL since becoming the Green Bay Packers starter in 2023. He ranked second in adjusted EPA per play, third in completion percentage over expectation, and seventh in success rate across the NFL last season. And yet, Love has never received a single individual accolade throughout his NFL career. That reality is as baffling as it is revealing about how the league evaluates its quarterbacks.
Sports Illustrated’s Connor Orr recently published a list of eight possible first-time Pro Bowlers in 2026, and Love’s inclusion speaks volumes about where the Packers quarterback stands entering this season.
The case for Love
Orr’s argument captures the disconnect between Love’s production and his recognition.
“It is unbelievable to me that the only award under Love’s Wikipedia biography is a 2018 bid for second-team All-Mountain West. Love had a fantastic 2026 season marred by a team collapse down the stretch.
“Though Love was outside the top 12 in passing yards in 2025, he was sixth in quarterback rating and third in QBR. While this is a purely anecdotal observation, I find that a quarterback’s eventual ascension into the category of unquestioned greatness follows a season in which the data clearly illustrate as much without us taking appropriate notice.
“I’m sure Packers fans will point out that, in actuality, Love has been a top-10 quarterback across the board in most major categories—passing yards, passing touchdowns, passer rating, TD percentage, QBR and touchdown-to-interception ratio—since 2023. Love, like Caleb Williams, suffers from a pack of stalwarts from perennially popular teams who tend to get the nod by default, or at least get a disproportionate benefit of the doubt, such as Jalen Hurts. The Fall of Love™ is upon us.” — Connor Orr
The numbers back that argument. Green Bay’s quarterback posted a 101.2 passer rating in 2025, led the Packers to the playoffs, and was among the most effective passers in the conference. The NFC Pro Bowl quarterbacks were Matthew Stafford, Sam Darnold, and Dak Prescott. The alternates who entered the conversation were Jared Goff and Jalen Hurts, and Love clearly played better than both Goff and Hurts last season. That he was passed over entirely is difficult to justify.
Consistently underrated
The Pro Bowl snub doesn’t exist in isolation. Love was left out of the top 10 in ESPN’s quarterback ranking, a project led by Jeremy Fowler that consulted executives, coaches, and scouts around the NFL. He was also just the 72nd player voted by fellow players on the NFL’s Top 100 list. For a quarterback who has been top 10 across most major statistical categories since 2023, those rankings suggest a perception gap between what Love produces and how the league views him.
The Pro Bowl has largely become a popularity contest, and that dynamic works against a quarterback who follows Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay. Shedeur Sanders made the Pro Bowl in the AFC last season, for example, and that’s the reality of how recognition works in the NFL.
Next season should bring a different perception
Love’s 2024 season was the only real interruption in his upward trajectory, and that was largely because of the MCL injury that limited him for most of the year. Setting that aside, he should have been a Pro Bowler in both 2023 and 2025.
If Love can sustain his production and Green Bay takes a step forward as a team, the 2026 season should be the year the accolades finally arrive. Orr’s framing of the “eventual ascension” tracks with how the league tends to reward quarterbacks. The production comes first, the recognition follows with a lag, and eventually the narrative catches up.