Getty Quarterback Alex McGough, formerly of the Seattle Seahawks, joined the Green Bay Packers on Tuesday, July 18, 2023.
It was near a certainty that the Green Bay Packers would add a veteran QB this summer, but the player they chose was far enough off the radar to surprise just about everybody.
The Packers signed Alex McGough to back up first-year starter Jordan Love in 2023 after a team workout on Tuesday, July 18, according to Bill Huber of FanNation’s Packer Central. McGough earned his shot with Green Bay on the strength of an MVP season in the United States Football League (USFL) as a member of the Birmingham Stallions.
The 27-year-old McGough has never thrown a pass in a regular season NFL game and was the backup in Birmingham before elevating into a starting role due to a finger injury sustained by quarterback J’Mar Smith during the opening game of the Stallions’ USFL season.
McGough will now compete with QBs Danny Etling and fifth-round rookie Sean Clifford (No. 149 overall in the 2023 draft) for the No. 2 spot on the Packers’ depth chart, both of whom also have yet to take a snap anywhere outside of the NFL preseason and/or the collegiate ranks.
Packers New QB Alex McGough Has Minimal NFL Background
GettyQuarterback Alex McGough, formerly of the Seattle Seahawks, throws a pass during an NFL preseason game against the Denver Broncos in August 2021.
Though it stretches the limits of accuracy to dub McGough a “veteran” of the NFL, he does technically have experience at the highest levels of the game.
The Seattle Seahawks drafted McGough out of Florida International with the No. 220 overall pick in the seventh round of the 2018 draft. He subsequently signed a four-year, $2.58 million deal with the Seahawks in May of that year.
The Seahawks waived McGough in September 2018, after which the QB landed on the team’s practice squad. He followed up his time in Seattle with practice squad stints with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans in 2019 and 2020, respectively. McGough landed back with the Seahawks in 2020 before the franchise waived him again in August 2021.
McGough was solid during the preseason for Seattle in 2018, putting up 476 passing yards and three touchdowns while achieving a passer rating of 87.8, per Huber. He was considerably less successful in the 2019 preseason with the Jaguars and the 2021 preseason with the Seahawks. There was no NFL preseason in 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
McGough was a premier performer at his alma mater, racking up 65 touchdown passes (first in school history) and 9,091 passing yards (second in school history), according to Football Reference.
Packers Bet Big on First-Year Starting QB Jordan Love in 2023
GettyQuarterback Jordan Love of the Green Bay Packers plays during an NFL game against the Detroit Lions in January 2022.
The Packers’ decisions at the QB position indicate the massive bet the franchise is making on Love to be a quality signal caller in his first full season as a starter.
Love is entering his fourth NFL campaign in 2023 and will turn 25 years old in November. While he, too, is shy on professional experience, his resumé reads like that of a seasoned veteran when compared to backups McGough, Etling and Clifford. Love has started just one game in a Packers uniform, a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2021, and has thrown just 83 passes as a professional, per Pro Football Reference.
Green Bay will enter the upcoming season with one of the youngest offenses in the league, if not the youngest, as the starting wide receivers and tight ends all figure to be rookies or second-year players themselves.
Who Love’s two primary backup QBs will be remains to be seen, though McGough and Clifford appear to have the inside track. The NFL will allow teams to suit up a third/emergency QB this season without that player counting against the traditional 53-man game day roster, which bodes well for McGough.
On the flip side of that coin, Etling could find himself the odd man out if all things prove more or less equal during training camp, which begins later this month. Love is the starter for sure, while McGough has the most experience of the three QBs behind him. The Packers spent a meaningful draft pick on Clifford this year, which puts him in a solid position to earn the team’s third QB spot. In that scenario, Etling may find himself demoted to the practice squad come the start of the season.