Brutal Reality of Dropped Passes And Why Packers Aren’t Slamming Panic Button

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers are dropping the ball on what should be a blockbuster season for quarterback Jordan Love.

With Week 7 of the NFL season on the horizon, Love has been victimized by a league-high 19 dropped passes, according to Pro Football Focus. No other quarterback has had more than 11 passes dropped. The six quarterbacks who’ve played for the other NFC North teams have had 15 passes dropped.

According to Next Gen Stats, which has counted 18 drops, Love is second in passing yards lost due to drops.

New England’s Drake Maye has lost 161 yards with Love next at 158. Those are air yards only and don’t include potential yards after the catch.

Love enters Sunday’s game at the Lions ranked third in the league with 1,684 passing yards, behind only the Rams’ Matthew Stafford (1,794) and the Texans’ C.J. Stroud (1,714). If you add the drop yardage to Love’s tally, he would lead the league with 1,842 passing yards.

Using the numbers from Fantasy Points Data and understanding that drops sometimes are in the eyes of the beholder, Love has been plagued by a drop rate of 8.0 percent, which is the fourth-highest among quarterbacks who’ve thrown more than 50 passes. New England’s Drake Maybe has lost 206 yards to drops with Love fifth with 128.

According to Pro Football Focus, Love has had a league-worst 12.2 percent of his passes dropped; Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield (10.3. percent) is the only other player at more than 9.2 percent.

“What do you want us to do to address the drops?” coach Matt LaFleur said on Wednesday. “It happens. It’s football. It happens. As long as guys are using the right mechanics and attacking the football, they happen.”

Among the 32-or-so quarterbacks with at least 275 dropbacks in a season during his tenure as the starter, Love was 18th in drop percentage in 2025 (5.8 percent), fifth in 2024 (8.2 percent) and 19th in 2023 (6.1 percent).

Using the numbers at Stathead, 46 quarterbacks have thrown at least 400 passes since Love took over as the starter, He has been victimized by the third-highest drop percentage, 6.0. Only Patrick Mahomes (98) has had more passes dropped than Love (96).

So, while Green Bay’s receivers have never been particularly sure-handed, this season is at a whole other level on a butterfingers scale. According to PFF, he had 24 passes dropped in 2023, 24 passes dropped in 2024 and 18 passes dropped in 2025. With 19 this season, he’s on pace for 54.

“The one thing is you’ve just got to trust yourself,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said on Tuesday. “Things like this happen. There’s been other guys – (Dontayvion) Wicks a couple years ago sticks out where he had the case of some drops. But the one thing is you’ve got to work hard, keep working on the JUGS, keep catching ball and just trust your hands and trust yourself, and he’ll keep making those spectacular plays.”

According to PFF, Matthew Golden leads the NFL with seven dropped passes. Of the 68 receivers have been targeted at least 20 times, Golden has the second-highest drop rate at 18.9 percent; former Packers receiver Romeo Doubs is first at 22.2 percent. Christian Watson, who has three drops, is tied for 15th at 9.4 percent.

At tight end, 27 players have been targeted at least 20 times. Tucker Kraft has the third-highest drop rate at 10.7 percent. He’s dropped three passes; Baltimore’s Mark Andrews leads in both categories with four drops and a 14.8 percent drop rate.

Green Bay’s backs have combined for four drops: two for MarShawn Lloyd (16.7 percent), one for Chris Brooks (25.0 percent) and one for Pierre Strong (11.1 percent).

Golden’s drops are dumbfounding. He caught everything in sight during his two training camps but has been plagued by big ones this season.

“No, no, I’m not concerned, just because I know the type of player that he is,” Stenavich said. “Again, just one of those things that you can’t lose trust in yourself. You got here for a reason. You are the player who you are for a reason. We all trust him. Jordan trusts him. I know he’s going to make those plays. The ball’s going to keep coming his way, so it’s just one of those things. You just got to work through it, trust yourself and keep your confidence.”

Love had five passes dropped last week against Dallas, according to PFF. Fantasy Data Points had Love losing 60 passing yards.

Love took it in stride as much as possible. Among 33 quarterbacks who’ve dropped back 100 times, Love is 28th in completion percentage. With drops turned into completions, he’s still only 28th. But it’s the big plays such as touchdowns that must be rectified before they cost the team in big moments in big games.

“It’s tough,” Love said after the game. “It’s football. I want to see us make every play. I want to make every throw. I want these guys to make every catch. That’s the expectation. Stuff happens. Drops happen.

“Obviously, I want those guys to make those plays, and we’re capable of making those plays. But for me, it’s got to be the next play mindset. You’ve got to move on. You’ve got to try and fight back and continue to make good plays. Yeah, it sucks and is something we’ve got to continue to get better at.”

Added together, the Packers somehow are 4-2 with a three-game winning streak with inconsistent pass protection, a penchant for penalties and far too many drops.

From his perspective, LaFleur understands that his receivers have missed too many opportunities. He also believes his players are doing things the right way, so there’s no sense of panic.

“Do we want them to happen? No,” LaFleur said. “If they’re using poor fundamentals, letting the ball get in their body, letting the ball cross their eyes, then, yeah, you work on that stuff. But it’s the same stuff we do every day. We go out there and we hammer fundamentals. Sometimes we make plays and sometimes we don’t. But I think that’s everybody in the league. 

“I have a lot of confidence in our guys that when called upon, they’re going to make the plays. If they drop the ball, you know what I want them to do? I want them to reset and go play the next play.”

SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY PACKERS NEWSLETTER