While we’re inching closer to seeing the 2026 Green Bay Packers take the field for the first time, it’s still lists-and-rankings season: The NFL top 100, Jeremy Fowler’s execs, coaches, and scouts survey, Fantasy Rankings, PFF’s QB rankings, along with endless other position and power rankings.
The common theme of those rankings is Packers fans being upset with how people rank Green Bay’s players — and when they get left off lists altogether. However, it’s the Packers who have created a situation in which people across the league don’t value their players enough.
For the most part, Packers fans’ frustrations are valid. Jordan Love ranked 72nd in the NFL top 100; that’s ridiculous. Xavier McKinney ranked 70th; he’s made back-to-back All-Pro teams. We likely won’t see Tucker Kraft, Zach Tom, and others who are objectively top-100 players. However, those are more understandable because they missed playing time with injury.
The NFL Top 100 admittedly isn’t a prestigious, accurate list that truly means something. Lamar Jackson was ranked 69th, and he’s one of the league’s best quarterbacks. However, it highlights a common theme in how the league views the Packers and their players. The same thing applies to the Baltimore Ravens after several disappointing playoff exits. They and their players are not respected around the league.
Another example of this is Jeremy Fowler’s poll of execs, coaches, and scouts ranking the players. Jordan Love was ranked 13th among quarterbacks. Zack Tom didn’t receive a vote after nearly being an All-Pro in 2024. A few Packers like Edgerrin Cooper and Tucker Kraft made their respective lists. Still, the overall feeling among the fan base was disrespect.
Still, despite Green Bay’s talent on paper, people around the league don’t place the Packers among the league’s top-tier teams despite making the playoffs three straight seasons.
Packers fans ultimately shouldn’t be surprised by this, because the Packers did this to themselves. You can’t blow two leads in Chicago, get outclassed in Philadelphia in the Wild Card round, finish third in the division, etc., and expect to earn the respect of your peers.
They’ve had the talent capable of taking a leap into the league’s upper echelon, but they haven’t put it all together. They even added one of the league’s most respected players, Micah Parsons, and still weren’t able to put it together.
Some of Green Bay’s failures were out of their control. There are obvious reasons it didn’t come together last season. They were up two scores in the second half at elevation in December against one of the league’s best teams. The Denver Broncos were a Bo Nix injury away from potentially being in the Super Bowl. However, Parsons, Toms, and Evan Williams‘ knees gave out at Mile High, causing the whole season to collapse. The Packers lost four in a row to end the season.
Still, despite the injuries and losing four in a row, Green Bay made the playoffs, and they were up 21-3 against their division rivals before throwing it all away. Now, they’re the team that isn’t going to fool anyone again. They had major expectations two years in a row and have massively disappointed in both years. The ramifications of that are not being respected as a team, resulting in a lack of league-wide respect.
This offseason would feel very different if Green Bay had just held the lead in Chicago. Beating the Bears in the playoffs would’ve been a gutsy performance by a team completely devastated by injuries against a rival that embarrassed them weeks before in the regular season.
Instead, it rendered a verdict on the players, execs, coaches, and scouts. Everyone around the league lost all their respect and expectations for the Packers, who were once one of the most promising young teams in the league. Unfortunately, along with that, Jordan Love gets the brunt of the disrespect because he is the face and engine of the team. He’s also the player who deserves it the least. Love has played exceptionally despite several limiting factors around him.
Just because people around the league don’t respect them doesn’t mean Green Bay’s time is up. They’re still an extremely talented team, and they expect to compete. However, people are just no longer going to crown them too early. It’s now up to them to prove to everyone that they are who we thought they were and to stop letting teams off the hook.
