The Green Bay Packers have gone decades without a genuine crisis at starting quarterback, yet a quiet move behind Jordan Love this offseason is already being called a misstep.
Bill Huber of Sports Illustrated argued Thursday that the team erred when it traded Kyle McCord to the Miami Dolphins and replaced him on the depth chart with Kedon Slovis.
Huber said Green Bay was right to keep Tyrod Taylor as Love’s backup rather than chase a different veteran such as Will Levis. He maintained the Packers still should have found a way to keep McCord on the 53-man roster.
“Good quarterbacks are hard to find. Heck, quarterbacks who might become good quarterbacks are hard to find,” Huber wrote.
“Keeping McCord, obviously, would have necessitated another difficult decision. Should the Packers have released their 10th offensive lineman, such as Travis Glover? Their seventh defensive tackle, such as Anthony Campbell?”
“Trading McCord, from a short-term perspective, might have been the right move, especially for a team that’s focused on winning now. From a longer-term perspective, though, it’s a mistake that could come back to bite them at this time next year.”
General manager Brian Gutekunst laid out why McCord did not survive the final roster cut. Gutekunst said the club wanted extra interior linemen on both sides of the ball, especially in the first weeks of the season.
That preference left no opening for a third quarterback on the initial 53-man roster.
The Packers could have released McCord and hoped he passed through waivers so they could sign him to the practice squad.
Miami’s interest made that plan look unlikely.
“We were obviously contemplating do we keep three? Do we try to get him to the practice squad? What’s the likelihood of that?” Gutekunst said.
“When somebody calls you up and starts offering you, talking about a trade, I think the likelihood of you getting him to the practice squad’s probably not strong.”
Taylor, 37, stays in place as the No. 2 quarterback even after Green Bay passed on other possibilities.
Levis, a former second-round pick of the Tennessee Titans, was the most notable name left on the market.
The Packers once sent a seventh-round pick to Tennessee for Malik Willis, another former Titans quarterback taken on Day 2. Green Bay turned Willis into one of the stronger backup quarterbacks in the league over the last two seasons.
Willis later landed a starting chance with Miami.
Levis and Willis share more than a draft history in Nashville. Both throw with power and move better than most pocket passers.
Instead the front office kept Taylor, dealt McCord and added Slovis. The choice fits a roster built to win now and stacked with linemen.
Whether the absence of a younger developmental quarterback on the 53-man roster becomes a problem a year from now is the question Huber raised.
