Position Change Sends Quarterback to Receiver

Alex McGough, who was the third quarterback last year while spending the season on the practice squad, has a new position.

Alex McGough / Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

Not that Alex McGough is old, but he is the fifth-oldest player on the Green Bay Packers’ roster. The 28-year-old, who was the practice-squad quarterback last season, will be learning some new tricks, starting at this weekend’s rookie minicamp. McGough shows up at receiver on the updated roster at Packers.com.

Green Bay didn’t add a receiver in the 2024 NFL Draft, nor did it sign one in undrafted free agency. It did draft a quarterback, though: Michael Pratt of Tulane in the seventh round.

McGough beat out Danny Etling to be the third quarterback last year. He wasn’t just a quarterback, though. He was the tight end in the middle of an incident in which ace cornerback Jaire Alexander suffered a back injury that sidelined him for three games in a four-week stretch early in the season.

“We collided in mid-air,” Alexander said at the time. “I don’t know how the third-string QB and starting corner collide, but, hey, no one did nothing wrong.”

Coming out of Florida International in 2018, McGough measured 6-foot-3 3/8 and 214 pounds. However, his other measurables were below average by receiver standards, with a 4.62 in the 40-yard dash part of a Relative Athletic Score of 3.26 when run at receiver.

At FIU, McGough threw for 9,084 yards and 65 touchdowns. He was a seventh-round draft pick by Seattle.

McGough has never played a regular-season snap. He has played extensively in the preseason, though.

2018 (Seattle): 476 yards and three touchdowns with an 87.8 passer rating.

2019 (Jacksonville): 60 yards and zero touchdowns with a 31.9 passer rating.

2020 (COVID; no preseason games.

2021 (Seahawks again): 145 yards and one touchdown with a 61.0 passer rating.

2023 (Packers) 69 yards and one touchdown with a 118.8 rating.

After being released by the Seahawks after camp in 2021, he landed with the Baltimore Stallions as the sixth overall pick of the 2022 USFL Draft.

In 2022, he won the starting job but suffered an ankle injury that sent him to injured reserve. During the USFL Championship Game, he replaced the injured starter and completed 7-of-10 passes for a touchdown to help the Stallion win the title.

In 2023, he opened the season as the backup but was back in the lineup when the starter suffered an injury. He was named league MVP as the Stallions won a second consecutive championship. In 10 games, he wound up leading the USFL in touchdown passes (20) and passer rating (108.3), was third with 2,104 passing yards and sixth with 403 rushing yards. He added five rushing touchdowns to finish with a league-record 25 total touchdowns.

“It’s been crazy. From starting as a freshman at college to getting cut and getting cut again,” McGough said before this year’s USFL Championship Game. “To being here and being hurt, not playing, then coming to the championship.”

In 2023, McGough didn’t throw any passes in the first two preseason games but was 4-of-5 for 69 yards in leading a come-from-behind victory over Seattle in the finale.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better finish,” McGough said after the game. “I think that I took my lumps [at times] and, when I got my opportunity, I feel like I made the most of it out there. Can’t really beat that, can’t really wish for anything better. I did my job and I did what I had to do to show the coaches what I can do.”

Now, he’ll have to show he can be a quick learner and do his job as he gears up another shot at cracking a 53-man roster. He is one of 10 receivers on the team; as first-year players, McGough, 2023 seventh-round pick Grant DuBose and Thyrick Pitts, who joined the practice squad in December, will be eligible to participate in the rookie camp.

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