It wasn’t long ago that Jordan Love was being talked about as the Green Bay Packers’ most vital chess piece. After all, how many quarterbacks in this league hold the balance of a franchise in their throwing hand the way Love was expected to? A 26‑year‑old QB1, fresh off his first real step into leadership, sliding as much as 30 spots in ESPN’s Top 100 this summer, feels less like a preseason ranking adjustment and more like a warning sign.

Green Bay fans have eagerly looked to Week 1 against Detroit not just to confirm Love’s bounce‑back health after last year’s knee issue but to see whether he can be the kind of dynamic playmaker who forces defenses to account for him every snap. And yet, the drumbeat out of camp hasn’t been about the former first‑rounder. Instead, insiders are whispering about something else entirely: that the most dangerous unit in Green Bay doesn’t line up under center at all.

The main angle emerged Saturday night in an otherwise forgettable 20‑7 preseason win against Seattle. Matt LaFleur’s linebacking corps dominated every snap, punctuated by third‑rounder Ty’Ron Hopper recording a sack and a forced fumble. After the game, LaFleur didn’t mince words. “Hopper, I would say he’s one of our most improved players from a year ago,” the coach said. “I think he’s done an outstanding job. He’s done a much better job communicating. He’s the voice of the defense when he’s in there, and so I think he’s done a really nice job. He’s still a young, developing player, but he got a lot of good work this preseason.” For a team that was supposed to live and die by Love’s right arm, it was the linebackers who set the tone. Quay Walker, Edgerrin Cooper, Isaiah McDuffie, and Hopper suddenly look like the group replacing the quarterback as the backbone of this roster.

The numbers back the shift. Love’s 2024 production dipped across key categories—completion percentage, total touchdowns, EPA per dropback—and he fell to No. 86 in ESPN’s rankings. Conversely, Green Bay’s linebacker room emerged as the surest strength of a team restructuring its identity around a fast, versatile defense. The attention is shifting, even if nobody in the building wants to outright say the quiet part: the Packers’ most valuable position is no longer QB.

LaFleur Adds 3-Time Champion Darian Kinnard to Shield Jordan Love

Just as the linebacker surge reshaped perceptions, LaFleur and GM Brian Gutekunst doubled down on fortifying the trenches with a savvy acquisition: offensive tackle Darian Kinnard from Philadelphia. Kinnard is no mere camp body—he arrives with three Super Bowl rings (two from Kansas City, another from the Eagles), a résumé few 25‑year‑olds can match. The Packers, long celebrated as one of the league’s best offensive line developers, see Kinnard as a versatile depth piece who could start if needed and stabilize the pocket Love desperately needs.

Special teams and swing‑tackle versatility were Kinnard’s defining roles in Kansas City and Philadelphia, but in Green Bay, context changes everything. The offensive line struggled to generate push in preseason—just 31 rushing yards on nine carries against Seattle’s backups—and protecting Love against a Detroit front headlined by Aidan Hutchinson now looms as a playoff‑defining priority. As Walker put it this weekend: “I feel like we’ve got some veterans on the O-line,” Walker said after the game. “I’ve played Detroit like, what, four times? So, I know what’s up with them. Jenkins knows them. Tom knows then. Sean Rhyan knows them. I’m pretty sure Banks knows them. So, just do it. That’s all it is, really.” Adding a champion lineman is more than roster tinkering—it’s message sending.

Meanwhile, the combination of a deep linebacker group and a sturdier offensive line recalibrates expectations. Rather than leaning solely on Jordan Love’s arm, Green Bay suddenly looks like a team that can win through defense, controlled tempo, and opportunistic quarterback play when it counts. The formula mirrors the blueprint that carried teams like the 2015 Broncos and 2019 49ers deep into January: quarterbacks didn’t have to be the focal point—they just had to avoid being the liability.

The bigger question becomes one of identity. Does this shift signal LaFleur conceding that Love may not be the engine of this team, but instead one of its important parts alongside others? Or is it just smart roster prioritization, acknowledging that championships are built in the trenches and at the second level of the defense? Either way, the conclusion is inescapable: the Packers are no longer staking their fortunes entirely on QB1. They might just thrive because of it.