Why New QB Kyle McCord Feels He Can Be Ready in a Hurry (And Love Message from Green Bay)

New Miami Dolphins backup quarterback Kyle McCord spoke to the South Florida media for the first time Wednesday, three days after he was acquired in a trade but more importantly 11 days before the team's 2026 season opener.

It's not a very long period of time for a newcomer to get acclimated to his new team and new offense, particularly for a player without NFL game experience, but it's not like McCord is going to have a chance because he has to be ready to step in right away in case something happens to starter Malik Willis after head coach Jeff Hafley confirmed he was the new number 2.

This is where it's going to help McCord that the Dolphins' offensive scheme has some similarity to that of the Green Bay Packers, and McCord also has connections with both Willis and new senior passing game coordinator Kevin Patullo — his offensive coordinator when he was on the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad as a rookie in 2025.

“Yeah, I mean as soon as I got the call that I was coming here that was one of the first things that I thought of is that KP's down here and so having a familiar face on the coaching staff is huge," McCord said. "And similar to Malik, with some of the stuff that we have been translating into the offense last year in Philly has definitely helped. So, yeah, I'm excited. I think the world of (Patullo) as a coach, so being able to link back up with them down here is pretty special.

“There is a lot of similarity, I think in terms of concepts, it's pretty much all the same stuff. Some of them are the same terminology, some of them are different. Formations and motions are just kind of formations and motions, just trying to pick that up as quick as possible. But yeah, it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be just with all the similarity there is.”

The trade to the Dolphins for a 2028 sixth-round pick represents a great opportunity for McCord, who was looking at being the Green Bay Packers' No. 3 quarterback behind Jordan Love and veteran backup Tyrod Taylor before the trade.

It has made for a pretty wild ride the past few days for McCord.

“Yeah, I mean, it's been crazy for sure," he said. "Obviously, my first time going through it, but everybody here has made the transition as easy as possible. Being in the room with Malik obviously has helped a lot, given that he was in the same spot I was coming from and kind of being the translator for the offense and putting it in terms that I'm familiar with. And so it's been about as smooth as a transition as it could be.”

Indeed, the Dolphins' brand new top tandem at quarterback both has come from Green Bay, obviously a pretty rare occurrence for any team.

In Green Bay, Love spoke about the opportunity for his former understudy.

"Kyle's been here since OTAs, and we got close with each other in that time," Love said. "But I'm excited for Kyle. I think, what a great opportunity for him. He balled out in preseason. He played really good. I was pretty impressed by the way he went out there and handled business.

“That's how it goes in NFL. You get an opportunity to go be a backup somewhere and you've got to take that. So, very cool for him. Very excited he'll be with Malik, two guys I know pretty well. They'll have a lot of fun over there."

This obviously isn't all fun and games, though, and let's not forget that McCord's next snap in a regular season game — whenever or if ever he's called upon — will be his first.

Based on our research, this marks the first time the Dolphins have traded for a backup quarterback before the start of a regular season since 2006 when they sent a fifth-round pick to the Detroit Lions for Joey Harrington.

There is a caveat, though, because Josh Rosen became the No. 2 quarterback in 2019 after the Dolphins traded for him in the offseason, but they didn't send second- and fifth-round picks to the Arizona Cardinals with the idea he'd wind up being thoroughly outplayed by veteran free agent pick-up Ryan Fitzpatrick.

With McCord, the Dolphins traded for a young quarterback they hope will develop but will back up Willis in the meantime.

They also hope he's ready for action right away.

“Yeah, I mean, I feel like I'm picking the offense up pretty quickly, just doing as much as I can to learn as much as possible," McCord said. "And I think at this point now, the season right around the corner, it's not so much trying to go back and learn every install from the offseason, just trying to learn what the game plan is, get dialed in on those plays, and those concepts and those schemes. And then get dialed in with all the two minute stuff and things along those lines. So I feel like I'm ahead of schedule right now, just being down here for a few days, I feel like I'm picking it up pretty quickly.”

THE DOLPHINS' NO. 2 QB AT THE START OF EVERY SEASON SINCE 2000

The rundown of each Dolphins backup quarterback for the season opener since 2000 along with how the player was acquired

2000 — Damon Huard (free agent, 1998)
2001-02 — Ray Lucas (UFA, 2001)
2003 — Brian Griese (free agent, 2003)
2004 — A.J. Feeley (trade, 2004 ... note that Feeley was acquired to be the starter but was beaten out in camp by Jay Fiedler)
2005 — Sage Rosenfels (trade, 2002)
2006 — Joey Harrington (trade, 2006)
2007 — Cleo Lemon (trade, 2006)
2008-09 — Chad Henne (draft, 2008)
2010 — Chad Pennington (free agent, 2008)
2011-17 — Matt Moore (UFA, 2011)
2018 — Brock Osweiler (UFA, 2018)
2019 — Josh Rosen (trade, 2019 ... note that Rosen was acquired to be the starter but was beaten out in camp by Ryan Fitzpatrick)
2020 — Tua Tagovailoa (draft, 2020)
2021 — Jacoby Brissett (UFA, 2021)
2022 — Teddy Bridgewater (UFA, 2022)
2023 — Mike White (UFA, 2023)
2024 — Skylar Thompson (draft, 2022)
2025 — Zach Wilson (UFA, 2025)

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