10. Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers
I don’t know that there’s any reason to be overly low on Jordan Love after the season we just saw from him, but you have to take at least a little bit of pause after the injuries he went through this year and the fact that his interception percentage spiked up a bit.
Love is still one of the top gunslingers in the postseason and he’s got a great combination of moxie and talent that makes him and the Packers both very dangerous as the 7th seed in the NFC this year.
One thing Love has done a lot better this year than he did last year? He’s not taking as many sacks. He took 30 sacks (already a low number) in his first year as a full-time NFL starter and he only took 14 sacks this season, less than one per game he played in. That’s a huge advantage entering the postseason.
9. Sam Darnold, Minnesota Vikings
Sam Darnold had himself a fantastic season for the Minnesota Vikings in 2024, but had his worst game of the year at the worst possible time.
Aaron Glenn and the Detroit Lions’ banged-up, battered defense shut Darnold and the Vikings down in a game with the #1 seed on the line. And to be fair, the Lions are a tough team and they played juiced up against the Vikings on Sunday night.
But people are wondering – maybe justifiably so – if the clock struck midnight on Darnold’s Cinderella season in that game. Nobody is immune to the occasional bad game, obviously, and Darnold could very well bounce back in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. But it’s worth noting that he completed less than 44 percent of his passes against such a beaten up defense in such a high-stakes game going into the playoffs.
The Rams are going to see what the Lions just put on tape and send a lot of extra defenders at Darnold.