After the Denver Broncos quarterback fiasco earlier this season, the Seattle Seahawks are not taking any chances as the team now has their second “emergency quarterback” on the roster. Yahoo Sports’ Eric Edholm reported the Seahawks are signing quarterback Alex McGough who the team originally selected in the seventh round of the 2018 NFL Draft. McGough will join Danny Etling as the second quarterback on the team’s practice squad.
McGough is one of three quarterbacks the Seahawks brought in over the weekend for a tryout. It looks like Seattle will pass on adding either J.T. Barrett or Tyree Jackson who also visited the team prior to their Week 13 matchup with the Giants.
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The Seahawks Now Have 2 ‘Emergency’ Quarterbacks on the Practice Squad
Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll has been open about the organization ramping up their quarterback contingency plan after seeing what happened in Denver when their entire position group ended up on the COVID-19 list on the eve of a gameday. Etling has already been kept separate from Russell Wilson and Geno Smith just in case he is ever needed this season.
“We have been in the conversation of this for a long time and we actually kicked into a new gear just by the — I hate to say we had to wait to see something bad happen — but we have stepped forward in terms of taking care of Danny,” Carroll noted, per Pro Football Talk. “So to make sure that he is apart from the other QB’s so if we had, heaven forbid, some kind of a circumstance, he would not be considered connected to those guys. So in essence he is separated from the QB’s for now. And he has done a fantastic job to this point where we trust that he can go to all the meetings, all the, virtually, stay with us, he’ll work out and all that kind of stuff, apart from those guys and we’ll keep him available. So that is our guy.”
Carroll on McGough: ‘He Can Throw All the Passes’
McGough started his career with the Seahawks but has been a bit of a journeyman during his short time in the NFL. The Seahawks cut McGough prior to the start of the 2018 season but quickly re-signed him to the practice squad a day later. McGough had a short stint with the Jaguars before being signed by the Texans in 2019.
The quarterback has been on and off the Texans’ roster for the last two seasons before they released him most recently in October. Carroll praised McGough’s mobility and overall performance during his rookie training camp in 2018.
“The surprise of the day was Alex,” Carroll said at the time, per Pro Football Talk. “I thought Alex did a very nice job. He showed really good arm strength. We know that he’s very mobile. … He got chased a lot last year on film so we know that he can move around and make things happen. But he had really good arm strength and he threw the ball really accurately today for his first time out. Get him under center was a little change for him but he had an impressive first day so we’re pleased to see that.”
McGough played four college seasons at Florida International from 2014 to 2017. The quarterback notched 2,798 passing yards, 17 touchdowns and eight interceptions while completing more than 65 percent of his passes during his senior season. McGough also added 231 rushing yards and five touchdowns on the ground. During his rookie season with the Seahawks, Carroll noted that McGough could “throw all the passes.”
“He can throw all the passes,” Carroll explained, via Pro Football Talk. “He’s got a big arm. He moves real well. We’ve seen him move a ton in college. I was really anxious to see him in the pocket more because he was so in and out with all the pressure he had to deal with. I thought he was very positive. We’re excited about it. I don’t see any restrictions in the types of things we can do looking at his first few days.”
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Seahawks Sign Former Texans Quarterback: Report