Packers to sign USFL MVP quarterback

It’s one week before the Green Bay Packers’ veterans report for training camp and it seems like general manager Brian Gutekunst isn’t finished shaking up his roster. According to NFL reporter Aaron Wilson, Green Bay is set to bring in USFL standout quarterback Alex McGough for a workout on Tuesday.

McGough is recently coming off of a season where he was named the USFL’s MVP after leading the league in passing touchdowns and passer rating. Originally, the plan was for McGough to be the backup quarterback to J’Mar Smith — Birmingham Stallions head coach Skip Holtz’s college quarterback from back in their Louisiana Tech days together — but Smith went down with an early-season injury that forced McGough into the lineup.

For the regular season, McGough completed 180 of 267 pass attempts for 2,104 yards and 20 passing touchdowns to just five interceptions. In the playoffs, McGough played his best football to date and recorded 39 completions on 56 passes for 552 yards, eight passing touchdowns and no interceptions on the way to a championship victory.

McGough was originally drafted by the Seattle Seahawks as a seventh-round pick out of Florida International back in 2018. He also had stints with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans with his last preseason action coming back in 2019, as the 2020 preseason was canceled due to Covid.

If you want my assessment of McGough, here’s what I have: Think Johnny Manziel. He has some traits that flash in the pocket, but where he really stands out is when he’s asked to tuck the ball and run or go off script to buy himself more time to throw the ball.

The fact that the Packers are looking at adding another quarterback to their roster shouldn’t be much of a surprise. First of all, Green Bay’s quarterback room is comprised of first-time NFL starter Jordan Love, rookie Sean Clifford and Danny Etling — who at one point was a receiver in the NFL. Second, the Packers have virtually no cap space until outside linebacker Rashan Gary — who hasn’t even been cleared to return to practice yet from a 2022 season-ending ACL injury — is signed to an extension that will lower his cap hit.

Green Bay doesn’t have many options if they want to add some competition to the QB2 or QB3 spot behind Love. That just might be the void that McGough can fill.

Update:

According to Sports Illustrated’s Bill Huber, the Packers are planning on signing McGough following his workout.