Packers Release Talented Rookie, Perhaps Establishing QB Room for Season

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers released undrafted rookie quarterback Kyron Drones on Saturday, meaning they’ll be down to three quarterbacks when they return to practice on Sunday.

Drones dropped back to pass four times during the fourth quarter of Thursday’s loss at the Steelers. He was sacked three times and threw one incompletion.

The Packers almost certainly will fill the roster spot quickly to cover for injuries. They worked out super-smart Seth Henigan last week, but he is not the corresponding roster move. Henigan threw for 14,266 yards and 104 touchdowns in four seasons at Memphis. He went undrafted in 2025 and has not been on a team during training camp.

With that, Kyle McCord has been given an incredible opportunity.

Packers Release Talented Rookie

Drones is incredibly talented, with above-average arm strength and tremendous athleticism. The Packers had a quarterback with that skill-set – Malik Willis – and that’s what they envisioned Drones potentially becoming.

“They see me for long term, not short term, just how they see me bringing qualities like Malik brought,” he told Packers On SI. “And then when my name’s called, they know I’m going to put the work in and try to do whatever I can to win games.”

However, it was a struggle going from Virginia Tech to Green Bay.

“I’m still thinking things through,” he said. “That stuff is going to come with time. But, at the same time, I’m settling in, processing things as fast as I can. I’m processing things faster than what people usually do, so that’s good on my timeline. But it’s still thinking things through, and then that’s going to come with time.”

He showed some of his potential on the practice field, highlighted by a play early in training camp when he scrambled to his right and threw a laser to Isaiah Neyor in the end zone for a touchdown.

“Well, it was an extremely athletic play to escape the pocket and he threw a dime right there in the back corner of the end zone to Isaiah Neyor, who made a great catch,” coach Matt LaFleur said a day later. “But he’s got a big learning curve in front of him. So, I don’t want to put it too far out there. Certainly, he’s a talented guy but he’s going to have to prove it every day.”

And that’s where Drones fell short. He struggled under pressure at practice, with a few up-for-grabs deep passes when feeling the heat, and in the game, with the three sacks.

Kyle McCord’s Job to Lose

With that, the Packers probably will roll into the regular season with Jordan Love and Tyrod Taylor as the quarterbacks on the 53-man roster – that was a given, anyway – and first-year player McCord on the practice squad.

McCord had a solid night against the Steelers, going 12-of-16 passing.

“He went out there and I thought he showed everything that you look for in a quarterback in terms of the poise to stand and deliver,” LaFleur said, a telling statement in juxtaposition with how Drones performed.

“We cut a guy loose that shouldn’t have happened when he hit Neyor on the short side of the field and they called roughing on the play. I was like, ‘Well, that’s interesting.’ But for him to stand in there and deliver, that’s exactly what you’re looking for.”

The highlight of his night was the 2-minute drill at the end of the first half. Given 46 seconds, McCord completed four consecutive passes, including the big sequence with 12 seconds remaining when he completed a pass to Will Sheppard and quickly got the offense organized to stop the clock with 1 second to go to set up a field goal.

LaFleur was impressed with McCord’s grasp of “situational” football.

“I don’t think he’s ever had a live rep of that,” he said. “Now, we’ve done it in walk-throughs and jog-throughs, but never a live rep. For him to be able to take that – that’s life in the National Football League. It’s impossible to rep every situation, especially if you’re not the starter. But for him to go into that situation and perform and the execution level of not only him but all the 10 other players, I thought, was phenomenal.”

McCord was a sixth-round pick by the Eagles in 2025 who signed to Green Bay’s roster at the end of last year.

Being on the practice squad will give McCord a year of seasoning to potentially set him up to be the backup next year; Taylor is 37 and on a one-year contract.

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