GREEN BAY — Kyron Drones’ rough night in Pittsburgh in Thursday evening’s preseason opener surely didn’t help his chances of sticking on the Green Bay Packers’ roster, but it might’ve been how well Kyle McCord played against the Steelers that really made the difference. 

Whatever the case, the Packers are down to three quarterbacks — starter Jordan Love, veteran backup Tyrod Taylor and McCord — after releasing Drones on Saturday.

The Packers didn’t immediately fill Drones’ roster spot, but having battled nagging injuries that thinned their depth at multiple positions, the Packers figure to add a non-quarterback to fill his spot.

Earlier in camp, head coach Matt LaFleur said Drones is “certainly a talented guy” but in the same sentence acknowledged that Drones had “a big learning curve in front of him” after going undrafted out of Virginia Tech.

Against the Steelers, Drones played just six snaps late in the game and dropped back to pass four times. He was sacked on three of those four drop backs and threw an incompletion on the other.

McCord, meanwhile, took over after Love (nine snaps) and Taylor (13) called it a night before halftime and was impressive. He played 32 snaps and  finished the night 12 for 16 for 102 yards without a touchdown or an interception (91.1 passer rating) but stood in against pressure behind the backup offensive line and engineered a field-goal drive just before the first half ended. 

LaFleur was particularly impressed with a third-quarter throw on which McCord hit Isaiah Neyor for an 11-yard gain and a first down with Steelers defensive lineman Anthony Goodlow bearing down on him.

Goodlow was flagged for a questionable roughing-the-passer penalty, and after McCord hit J. Michael Sturdevant for a 14-yard gain on third-and-6 to keep the drive alive, rookie kicker Trey Smack made his third field goal of the game to give the Packers a 9-7 lead.

“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,” said LaFleur, who also praised McCord for getting Smack in position for the 58-yard field goal just before halftime. “We cut a guy loose when he hit Neyor on the on the short side of the field, and for him to stand in there and deliver — that’s exactly what you’re looking for.”

In reality, the best McCord can hope for is to be the third quarterback on the team’s practice squad. The Packers have kept a third quarterback on the 53-man roster coming out of camp only once since Brian Gutekunst became the general manager in 2018: They kept three in 2020, with Aaron Rodgers, Tim Boyle and Love.

The 23-year-old McCord played three college seasons at Ohio State and one at Syracuse before the Philadelphia Eagles took him in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. He spent all of last season on the Eagles’ practice squad before signing a futures deal with the Packers on Jan. 20.

McCord figures to get plenty of work in the Packers’ next preseason tilt, on Friday night at Denver against the Broncos.

“I knew I was going to get an opportunity and I thought I did well,” McCord said after the Steelers game. “There’s obviously some good [but also] some plays I wish I had back. But all really good experience getting in the game and getting to go against a different defense than what you see every day in practice.”

​COPYRIGHT 2026 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.