The Green Bay Packers have surprisingly shipped off their top backup quarterback candidate to the Miami Dolphins in a value trade before the 53-man roster cutdown deadline.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Packers are trading quarterback Kyle McCord — a preseason standout — to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for a 2028 sixth-round draft selection, gaining a little capital instead of risking losing him on waivers.
“Trade: The Packers are sending QB Kyle McCord to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for a 2028 sixth-round pick, per sources,” Schefter wrote Sunday morning on X. After trading Quinn Ewers to the Jaguars, the Dolphins needed a new backup for Malik Willis. Now, the Dolphins have two former Packers QBs.”
McCord, a 2025 sixth-round pick for Philadelphia, shined for the Packers during the 2026 preseason after signing a reserve/future contract with the team following their wild-card playoff loss in January. In three preseason games, he completed 65.7% of his passes (46 for 70) for 446 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions.
The McCord trade leaves veteran Tyrod Taylor, who struggled in the preseason, as the only other quarterback on the Packers’ roster behind starter Jordan Love ahead of the roster cutdown deadline at 6 p.m. ET.
Packers Opt for Something Over Nothing With Kyle McCord
After how McCord played in the preseason, some thought the Packers would consider keeping him on the roster to take Willis’ former job and serve as the No. 2 quarterback behind Love for the 2026 NFL season.
Instead, the Packers have indicated that wasn’t going t happen with their decision to trade McCord.
Had the Packers wanted to install McCord as their new No. 2 quarterback, they would have just kept him on their initial 53-man roster instead of Taylor. By trading him, the team is essentially saying it had planned to put him on waivers during roster cuts — and, therefore, would have opened up the possibility of losing him to another team.
Knowing that, a trade is advantageous for the Packers — even a Day 2 pick in two years. Green Bay would have needed him to go unclaimed on waivers to have a shot at stashing him on its practice squad. Now, the team will add a future sixth-rounder to its draft arsenal and move forward with the veteran Taylor, who has 62 career starts.
Tyrod Taylor Officially Wins Packers’ Quarterback Battle
Barring another unforeseen trade, Taylor appears to have won the Packers’ No. 2 quarterback battle for the 2026 season, but there are reasons for fans to be skeptical of the decision-making.
Taylor has played 100 games since coming into the league as a sixth-round pick in 2011. At his peak, he had a three-season run as a starter for the Buffalo Bills, completing 62.7% of his passes for 8,857 yards, 51 touchdowns and just 16 interceptions over his 43 starts from 2015 through 2017.
In limited preseason minutes for the Packers, though, Taylor was largely unimpressive. He completed just eight of his 16 passing attempts for 38 yards and a touchdown over his two preseason performances, leaving McCord to outshine him.
The Packers may simply trust Taylor’s veteran experience over a second-year quarterback who is moving to his third team in two years, but another Malik Willis situation is not out of the question if they are not sold on what Taylor brings to the table.
Then again, if the Packers wanted an alternative to Taylor, they would have likely kept McCord, a sign that Taylor is the No. 2 for the foreseeable future.
Packers Pull Off Surprise Quarterback Trade During Roster Cuts