Jordan Love

Fantasy Upside
It was a tale of two seasons for Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers, but if the upside is anywhere near what they looked like in the second half of the year, the ceiling is sky-high. From Week 12 on, Love was fantasy's QB4 in points per game while throwing multiple touchdowns in six of seven games and rushing for a touchdown in two of them. While it would usually be a shortcoming for a team not to have a locked-in WR1 option, the Packers have the luxury of having a depth chart loaded with WR2 talent that runs deep. They could all do their part to turn Love into a bona fide top-10 fantasy option.

Fantasy Downside
Through the first eight weeks of the season, Love was sacked 18 times, eating the ninth-highest pressure-to-sack rate (24.1%), even though he had the second-best time-to-pressure mark (2.72) in the league up to that point. He also had the league's highest first-read rate (77.3%), hinting at the fact that he was having issues processing the play if his first-read option wasn't open. If those issues pop back up in his second year as a starter, defenses might be able to do a better job honing in on it.

2024 Bottom Line
Love's final few months of the 2023 season were simply too good to overlook. The Packers' skill position group is loaded with options to test defenses in all areas of the field, which would cover any shortcomings that Love hasn't already overcome. His lack of rushing keeps him out of high-end QB1 conversations, but he has a great baseline as a back-end guy in 2024.

Week 16 at Carolina Panthers

In the smash spot of all smash spots, Jordan Love did disappoint a little. He fell short of 300 yards, but went 29-for-39 for 284 yards and 2 touchdowns. It was an efficient day in a losing effort, but if you started him last week you were obviously hoping for more against the Bucs secondary.

On tap this week is one of the best passing defenses in the league in the Carolina Panthers. Carolina is 2nd aFPA against quarterbacks and have done an incredible job not allowing big passing days. Since Tua Tagovailoa threw for 265 yards in Week 6, only Baker Mayfield (202) has eclipsed 200 passing yards against the Panthers. Despite ranking 13th in our 4for4 rankings, he would have a seat on the bench this week unless desperate.

Week 14 at New York Giants

Jordan Love looks like a completely new quarterback or maybe we've seen Matt LaFleur finally take the reins off Love and unleash him a bit. Love finished 25-of-36 for 267 yards and 3 touchdowns. Plus, added another 10 yards on the ground against a very good Chiefs defense. I think moving forward given all the quarterback injuries we're now in a place where you can confidently start Love if you've got him.

Love gets a matchup this week against the lowly Giants, but they haven't exactly been handing out fantasy points to quarterbacks this year. New York is 6th aFPA against quarterbacks this season, but it's probably because teams don't feel the need to throw a ton against them. Love has earned a benefit of the doubt that I wasn't sure he'd be able to earn this season. Ranking 10th in 4for4's QB rankings this week, I would start Love confidently.