Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love. Sarah Kloepping/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK

ESPN doesn’t think highly of Packers in start of Jordan Love era

Originally posted on WI Sports Heroics | By Ned F | Last updated 5/22/23

The Jordan Love era is about to begin for the Green Bay Packers and while the franchise has had over 30 years of success with Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, the hope is that they found another star to lead their franchise. But we shouldn’t expect it to happen this soon.

With OTA’s opening up here in the offseason, ESPN has released its first version of the 2023 Football Power Index. And it’s not good news for Packers fans.

ESPN has Green Bay ranked No. 25 in the first FPI rankings of the year with a rating of -2.8.

ESPN's Football Power Index is out!

Why the Chiefs are No. 1 but not Super Bowl favorites, close divisions, the Jets at 6 (!), the Cardinals chances at the No. 1 pick and more: https://t.co/K5iPP9AtjJ pic.twitter.com/d6mYiqOVBa

— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) May 22, 2023

The -2.8 rating is the worst in the NFC North and the sixth-worst in the NFC. If this projection is true, it signals the model does not believe in Love at quarterback.

And the projection model even admits it. Here is what ESPN bases the model on:

We use team ratings to simulate the season thousands of times, creating our projections, which update every day during the season. Game predictions are also informed by factors such as travel, rest differential and changes at starting quarterback.

The good news for Green Bay is that this is just a projection model and it doesn’t mean that the Packers would be this bad. However, there is concern about the quarterback change and if the Packers get off to a slow start, questions will continue to arise about the future of the position.

This article first appeared on WI Sports Heroics and was syndicated with permission.

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