A year ago this week, Jordan Love went down in the Packers' preseason opener against the Jets with a torn UCL in his non-throwing thumb, needed surgery, and spent the rest of August in a brace hoping he'd be ready for Week 1. He was, barely. Now here comes preseason game one again, and Love is back out there against Pittsburgh on Thursday, this time by choice.
Matt LaFleur says his starter is expected to play, with the usual coach's caveat that he reserves the right to change his mind. That hedge matters more than it normally would given the history, and left guard Aaron Banks being limited with a knee issue is the wrinkle that could still pull Love off the field entirely.
Love himself isn't pretending last year didn't happen. "Obviously what happened last year sucked. It was very tough," he said, adding he's glad the recovery timeline worked out the way it did. That's a quarterback who knows exactly how close he came to opening the season on the shelf, and it's shaping how he plans to approach Thursday.
His plan is basically: don't be a hero. Love said the priority is staying healthy and avoiding hits, which means no scrambling outside the pocket and a focus on getting the ball out rather than extending plays with his legs. LaFleur's counter-argument is that meaningful preseason reps genuinely cut down on regular-season injury rates, and he wants his starter mentally locked in before Week 1 arrives. Both things can be true — Love can take some snaps and still play like he's wearing a red no-contact jersey in his own head.
For fantasy purposes, none of this should move the needle much on its own, but it's worth knowing where Love sits on the board. Current ADP has him going in the 12th round, around pick 132-139 overall, typically the QB15 to QB19 depending on the platform. That's a discount for a guy who posted the second-best EPA per play among quarterbacks in 2025, trailing only Drake Maye, on an offense that finished top-3 in the league even while missing Tucker Kraft for stretches and getting an often-banged-up Josh Jacobs.
That gap between efficiency and draft cost is the actual story for fantasy managers. Love isn't being drafted like a QB1 because Green Bay doesn't push the ball downfield at a QB1 pace, but if this offense's pass rate ticks up even to league-average, the per-play numbers say he's got QB1 upside sitting there in the 12th round. A clean, uneventful preseason debut Thursday — even a limited one — is a green light for anyone banking on that bet.
The downside is obvious given last August. Any hint of a hand, wrist or thumb tweak Thursday and this entire conversation flips instantly, both for Love's outlook and for backup Malik Willis' fantasy relevance if the injury bug bites twice in a row. Watch the box score, but watch the injury report even closer.
Bigger picture, this is a low-stakes appearance with real stakes attached. Love doesn't need stats Thursday, he needs to walk off the field the same way he walked on. If he does, the value play at his current ADP gets a lot easier to justify heading into fantasy drafts this month.