Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) reacts against the Dallas Cowboys during an NFL wild-card playoff football game Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024 in Arlington, Texas.
Maria Lysaker, AP
Jordan Love as MVP of the NFL? The Green Bay Packers as the 2025 Super Bowl champs?
Those are real predictions being made following the end of the 2023-24 NFL season.
A collection of ESPN NFL pundits weighed in this week on some of the biggest questions entering the year, namely who will play in Super Bowl LIX, who will be named league MVP and who is primed for breakout seasons, as well as offseason trades/signings they expect to happen.
And wouldn’t you know it, Love is a rising star in the eyes of many.
Super Bowl LIX predictions
Of 11 predictions made, the Packers were picked to make it to the Super Bowl next February in three of them, trailing only NFL champion Kansas City Chiefs with five.
One of said predictions has Green Bay winning it all, with Matt Bowen writing: “A healthy quarterback Joe Burrow will put the Bengals back in the mix as one of the top teams in the AFC. It’s the Packers, however, who win the Super Bowl because of quarterback Jordan Love’s difference-making ability and a change in defensive philosophy under new coordinator Jeff Hafley.”
Other predictions involving the Packers have them losing to the Chiefs, but as Eric Moody writes, “Meanwhile, Love and the Packers exceeded expectations, establishing themselves as legitimate contenders for the top spot in the NFC.”
MVP, MVP, MVP
Love isn’t the favorite to win MVP next season, per ESPN. That honor falls to Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, another Mountain West Conference product.
That being said, Love had the second-most votes to win the league’s top honor next year, tied with Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud and Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert.
Wrote Bowen: “Love has a dynamic and versatile group of pass-catchers, plus a system that maximizes his throwing traits. He’s in position to produce high-end numbers for a championship-level team.”
Lindsey Thiry was also onboard the Love bandwagon, writing: “In his first season as a starter and surrounded by youth at the skill positions, Love surged from Week 11 on, leading the NFL in QBR, touchdown-to-interception ratio and combined touchdowns. Watch for Love to continue to progress and flourish under coach Matt LaFleur.”
Breakout player
Love also received recognition as one of the projected breakout players in 2024-25, although it can easily be argued that he broke out this past season.
Wrote Matt Miller: “Love started his breakout over the second half of the 2023 season, but in 2024, we will see him emerge as a legitimate franchise quarterback and game-changing dual threat. Love is why I’m picking the Packers to make a Super Bowl run.”
Is the hype legitimate?
Anyone who followed Love and the Packers during the past NFL season can understand why pundits are high on both.
The Packers finished the year 9-8 overall, earning a wildcard spot in the playoffs, and lost to the Super Bowl runners-up by a field goal in the divisional round (after upsetting the Dallas Cowboys).
Love, meanwhile, threw for over 4,000 yards, 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, improving steadily as the season progressed.
The 25 year-old played well enough at the end of the year to engender headlines such as these:
Can Jordan Love Become An All-Time Great Like Patrick Mahomes?Jordan Love ascends into star status‘He’s the guy’: Jordan Love is top MVP candidate in 2024Jordan Love’s Transformation: Star Quarterback of the Packers
And that is only a few of them.
Will Love live up the hype? We will have to wait until next season to find out, but he clearly is viewed as one of the rising stars of the NFL.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) is pushed out of bounds by San Francisco 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir (2) during an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif.
Ashley Landis, AP