Jordan Love waited two seasons behind Aaron Rodgers before becoming the starting quarterback of the Green Bay Packers. And the Packers are better off without Rodgers.
Rodgers, 40, signed with the New York Jets and was on the field for only four plays in Week 1 before suffering an Achilles injury that sidelined him for the rest of the season. But hypothetically, if he were to return to Green Bay, there’s no chance he would win the job back from Jordan Love.
Since Rodgers left, in fact, Love has been an upgrade over his predecessor, just as Rodgers was an improvement over Brett Favre before him after being his heir apparent for three seasons.
It seems almost illogical to place Love above either Rodgers or Brett Favre, one current and one future Pro Football Hall of Famer who combined for two Super Bowl titles, seven NFL MVP awards, and 21 Pro Bowl invitations.
But that’s how good Love has been in his first season as an NFL starter. Here are three ways Love, the 26th overall pick out of Utah State in 2021, has already trumped Rodgers this season.
Related: NFL QB rankings
Jordan Love’s first year is better than Aaron Rodgers’ first year
If you look at the first seasons for both quarterbacks, it’s not even close. Jordan Love has been significantly better than Rodgers was in 2008.
| Comp.% | TD% | Int.% | Rating | Win.% | |
| Aaron Rodgers (2008) | 63.6 | 5.5 | 1.9 | 96.1 | .375 |
| Jordan Love (2023) | 64.2 | 5.2 | 2.4 | 93.8 | .529 |
In addition to the numbers above, Love put together an eight-game stretch in which he’s thrown for 18 touchdowns and only one interception while completing more than 70 percent of his passes.
Rodgers didn’t have a stretch equal to that until his seventh season as a starter, when he threw 18 TD passes to one pick over the first seven games of the 2014 season, when he won the second of his four NFL MVP awards. That just means Love is currently playing at an MVP level.
Related; NFL MVP odds 2023-24
Jordan Love has been better than Aaron Rodgers was last year
As Love stood on the sidelines and watched Rodgers take his final snaps in a Green Bay Packers’ uniform, he was just preparing for the eventual day when Rodgers would either retire or move onto greener pastures.
In Rodgers’ case, the shade changed from Packers’ green to Jets’ green. But Rodgers’ departure was all Love needed to take over the job and play it at an even higher level.
Rodgers’ stats (2022): 64.6 comp.%, 4.8 TD%, 2.2 Int.%, 91.1 passer rating, and .471 win%
Every one of those numbers is worse than Love’s this season. Not only that, but they are the worst of Rodgers’ career. Taking the passer rating, for example: Rodgers has produced a higher than 100.0 rating in 11 of his 14 complete seasons.
Love’ passer hasn’t gone over 100.0 yet, but he’s trending in that direction if he’s already exceeded Rodgers’ first-year total.
Jordan Love has led the Packers to the playoffs
Over Love’s tremendous eight-game stretch to close out the season, the Packers went 6-2 and advanced to the playoffs as the No. 7 seed. They will play the No. 2 Dallas Cowboys in the wild-card round on Sunday.
There’s not much Aaron Rodgers hasn’t done in his NFL career. But leading the Packers to the playoffs as a first-year starter is among them. Green Bay went 6-10 in Rodgers’ inaugural starting season, and the Packers missed the playoffs.
Moreover, the Packers also missed the playoffs last season with Rodgers behind center, finishing with an 8-9 record. After the season, he requested a trade to the Jets, which Green Bay accommodated three months later.
It’s no coincidence that the Green Bay Packers improved with Jordan Love at quarterback. No one is suggesting he’s ready for his bust to be enshrined in Canton, as Rodgers’ will be someday, but for now Jordan Love is at least trending ahead of the two all-time greats before him.