Green Bay South has become a popular nickname for the Miami Dolphins this offseason. That originated after the Dolphins hired Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley as their new head coach and Packers vice president of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan as their new general manager.
Miami did not stop there, as they then signed former Green Bay Packers backup quarterback Malik Willis to a three-year, $67 million contract in free agency. The Dolphins also added former Packers players like Zayne Anderson, Ben Sims and James Ester.
Additionally, the Dolphins also decided to acquire another Green Bay Packers quarterback, as they traded for Kyle McCord to serve as their new backup quarterback. And now, the Packers general manager has given his thoughts on Miami’s new quarterback.
Packers General Manager Shares Thoughts on Miami Dolphins Quarterback
Regarding the decision to trade McCord to the Miami Dolphins, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said, “He played so well during the preseason. We were contemplating, do we keep three? Do we try to get him to the practice squad, what’s the likelihood of that? When somebody calls you and starts talking about a trade, the likelihood of getting him to the practice squad probably isn’t strong.”
Green Bay is among the teams that typically do not carry three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster, but it appears that McCord’s strong performance made them consider it.
Gutekunst added of McCord, “It’s always (tough), whenever you trade a player that you like and you think has an upside, but he wasn’t going to be the No. 2 here most likely, and heading into next year, who knows? It’s our job to find the next guy, and develop the next guy.”
Regarding the decision to trade for him, Dolphins Wire’s Mike Masala wrote: “The Miami Dolphins weren’t impressed by their trio of quarterbacks battling to back up Malik Willis this preseason, which led the team to trade Quinn Ewers and cut both Cam Miller and Mark Gronowski over the weekend.
While these moves left Miami without a quarterback, they quickly pivoted and completed a trade with the Green Bay Packers to acquire Kyle McCord, who completed 65.7% of his passes for 446 yards and four touchdowns in the preseason.”
Miami Dolphins Backup Quarterback
McCord is expected to serve as Malik Willis’ backup in the regular season opener despite having only two weeks to prepare and learn Miami’s offensive system.
However, Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan did not seem concerned about that, as he said, “Bobby Slowik, Bush Hamdan, they’re good coaches. They’ll get them ready. It’s not ideal. I’m not going to sit up here in front of you and try to say like this scenario is perfect. It’s not. I think sometimes when you’re talking about your roster and trying to get better, you have to take some chances and do some things that maybe are uncomfortable, if you will. But I have a lot of faith in the guys that are going to be coaching him every day, and like I said, we hope No. 2 is out there, but if something happens, I think we’ll be ready to roll.”
Packers GM Shares True Feelings on Dolphins Quarterback