Getty New Packers wide receiver Jalen Wayne.
The Green Bay Packers are making a few changes to the bottom of their wide receiver corps before their first training camp practice on Monday, July 22.
According to the team’s official transaction wire for July 19, the Packers waived former quarterback-turned-wide receiver Alex McGough with an injury designation on Friday as players started reporting from the offseason break for the start of camp.
The Packers also signed two new pass-catchers — Jalen Wayne and Rory Starkey Jr. — in a pair of corresponding moves, bringing them up to their 90-man roster limit.
McGough spent the 2023 season on the Packers’ practice squad as their third-string quarterback behind Jordan Love and Sean Clifford. After the Packers drafted Tulane quarterback Michael Pratt in the seventh round of this year’s draft, though, the team converted the 28-year-old from a quarterback into a receiver ahead of OTAs, a move that seemed to give him a more realistic chance of vying for a spot on the 2024 roster.
“He’s a really athletic guy,” Packers head coach Matt LaFleur told Packers.com’s Wes Hodkiewicz earlier this year. “He spent a lot of time on the scout team, running receiver routes and he did such a great job. We feel like he’s such a talented athlete, why not give him a chance there?”
McGough would have been competing for one of the final spots in the Packers’ receiving rotation or, more likely, a practice-squad role with the likes of Bo Melton, Malik Heath, Samori Toure, Grant DuBose if he had stuck around into camp. Instead, he will now have to find work elsewhere with a team seeking more depth at receiver or quarterback.
Jalen Wayne & Rory Starkey Jr. Add Camp Bodies at WR
The Packers now have two new wide receivers in the fold for Monday’s first practice, but the two youngsters will both have to prove they are more than camp bodies if they want to stick around in Green Bay when the 2024 regular season begins in September.
Wayne (6-foot-1, 211 pounds) caught 152 passes for 1,980 yards and 14 touchdowns during his collegiate career at South Alabama, earning second-team All-Sun Belt honors in his final season before declaring for the 2023 NFL draft. He went undrafted, though, and could not earn an active-roster or practice-squad spot in the NFL as a rookie despite spending portions of the 2023 offseason with both Buffalo and Cleveland.
Meanwhile, Starkey (six feet, 214 pounds) put up similar numbers to Wayne in college, recording 119 receptions for 1,549 yards and 14 touchdowns in three seasons at Penn and adding another 27 catches for 204 yards at Samford as a graduate transfer in 2023. The difference is Starkey seems to have already proven himself in a small way to the Packers, getting a pre-camp callback from the team after participating in their rookie minicamp in May on a tryout basis. Whether it will give him a slight edge is unknown.
Either way, special teams will be the emphasis for both Wayne and Starkey as they attempt to lock down a place with the Packers heading into the 2024 season. If they can contribute in the third phase for Rich Bisaccia’s units, it could help them earn a place on the practice squad — from which Packers receivers have leveled up to the active roster in the past.
Packers Eyeing No. 4 QB After Cutting Alex McGough
The Packers might have decided against McGough as a quarterback option for them earlier in the offseason, but they appear to be still looking for a fourth quarterback to serve as a camp arm for them, based on their most recent roster workout.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Packers worked out veteran quarterback Jake Fromm on the same day they released McGough. Fromm — who turns 26 in two weeks — made two starts and played in three games for the New York Giants in 2021, completing 27 of his 60 passes for 210 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions.
Fromm has also spent time in Buffalo and Washington; though, he did not play any regular-season snaps for either the Bills or the Commanders during that time.
The Packers may decide against signing Fromm, but his experience could be useful as the team sorts out its pecking order at quarterback. As a seventh-round pick, Pratt will likely have an advantage in the competition for the Packers’ No. 3 quarterback job, but Fromm could push him for the role if Pratt experiences more rookie struggles than expected.