GREEN BAY, Wis. — Kyron Drones won’t have the opportunity to avenge a dismal start to his first preseason, at least not in Green Bay.
The rookie quarterback was released by the Packers on Saturday, widdling the team’s depth chart down to starter Jordan Love, backup Tyrod Taylor, and No. 3—and likely emergency option this season—Kyle McCord.
In Thursday night’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Love started the game and attempted just five passes on the Packers’ opening offensive possession before Taylor stepped in. The 16-year veteran played until midway through the second quarter before being relieved by McCord, who spent the majority of the evening on the field.
McCord, a former sixth-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles, went 12-of-16 for 102 yards and made a handful of impressive, big-time throws in the face of pressure. He evidently did enough to maintain his spot on the Packers’ depth chart and beat out Drones, who never really had the opportunity to audition. If the time he spent on the field was any indication, that opportunity may not come elsewhere, either.
Of course, teams will always be willing to take a swing on a strong-armed, dual-threat player at the most important position on the field. Drones’ tape, however, was uninspiring.
The Packers didn’t deploy Drones until there was just south of nine minutes left in the game. He dropped back to pass four times—he was sacked thrice, and his lone pass attempt was too far out of the reach of receiver Kisean Johnson. While playing behind a third-team offensive line consisting of Dalton Cooper and Brant Banks as the tackles, Josh Gesky and Dillon Wade as the guards, and Dylan Barrett at center, Drones sustained a total loss of 26 yards on the three sacks, including a 15-yard loss on his first drive.
After spending the first two years of his collegiate career at Baylor, Drones transferred to Virginia Tech and won the Hokies’ starting job. He started 34 games over the net three seasons, throwing for 5,566 yards and 44 touchdowns through the air to just 18 interceptions. He weaponized his legs as well, rushing for just under 1,800 yards and 20 more touchdowns in that span. The nine rushing scores during his senior campaign were the sixth-most in the ACC and second-most by a quarterback.
Drones went undrafted, signing a priority free-agent deal with the Packers in May.
The Packers still have four more public practices left in training camp, as well as a pair of preseason games—Aug. 21 in Denver against the Broncos and Aug. 28 at Lambeau Field against the Arizona Cardinals. They’ll host the Cardinals for a joint practice on Wednesday, Aug. 26. It isn’t out of the realm of possibility that they’ll add another quarterback just to ensure they have enough bodies to distribute practice and game reps for the remainder of the summer, especially if they intend to keep Love out of harm’s way.
The game was nasty, but was his camp that bad???