One former NFL general manager recently bought a first-class ticket on the Jordan Love train.
"The best quarterback in the division to me is gonna be Jordan Love," Mike Tannenbaum said on ESPN.
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In Tannenbaum's defense, he moreso answered the question "Who will be the best quarterback in the NFC north?" rather than "Who is the best quarterback in the division today?"
It would be lunacy to suggest Love is the division's top quarterback in the present day. There's a better argument for him standing as the worst quarterback in the division, simply based on his lack of NFL experience.
He's played 10 games in his career, totaling 606 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. Love has only started one of those games, in which he led the Packers to a loss.
Tannenbaum argued for the Packers' ability to develop quarterbacks, having Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers drive the ship over the last two decades. He presumes Love will transform into the same archetype based on the Packers' long-sustained success in developing signal callers.
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That's a fair argument to make, I suppose. But when debating who's the best quarterback today, Love doesn't have a large enough sample size to compare with the division's veterans -- Kirk Cousins and Jared Goff -- and the up-and-comer, Justin Fields.
Who is the best quarterback in the division? Another former NFL executive opted to take the only one from the group with a Super Bowl ring.
"That's gonna be the best quarterback in the North," Louis Riddick said of Jared Goff. " That's gonna be the best team in the North. That is gonna be the team that's in the conversation to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl."
Goff excelled last season with the Lions. He threw for 4,438 yards; his best mark since his Pro Bowl days with the Los Angeles Rams. He completed 65 percent of his passes and finished with the fifth-best QBR rating in the NFL.
He also, according to Riddick, earned the second-best adjusted QBR in the pocket and the fourth quarter. Those types of numbers are irrefutable, especially when you juxtapose them with Love's career numbers.
Kirk Cousins offers a strong case, for what it's worth. He led the Vikings to a 13-4 record last season, throwing for more yards and as many touchdowns as Goff, with a better completion rate. Cousins earned a Pro Bowl nod for his performance last season.
It's a fun argument to hash out with the long-awaited absence of Aaron Rodgers, who was traded to the New York Jets this offseason. The NFC North is truly up for grabs now more than it has been in years, though the Detroit Lions present a clear advantage based on their superb roster talent.
Who will be the best quarterback in the division at the end of this season?