Packers’ Alex McGough, former USFL MVP, moving from quarterback to wide receiver

Alex McGough has never taken an NFL regular-season snap at quarterback.

Now he’ll attempt to crack a lineup at a different position.

The second-year Packer is moving to wide receiver, head coach Matt LaFleur confirmed in his Friday news conference.

“He’s an athletic guy,” LaFleur said. “One thing I know you didn’t see last year is he spent a lot of time on the practice squad or the scout team running receiver routes. And he did such a great job. We feel like he’s just such a talented athlete, so why not give him a chance there? He’s a smart guy and works his tail off, I think he can contribute on [special teams], as well. So we felt like that might be his chance here.”

McGough entered the NFL as a seventh-round selection of the Seahawks in the 2018 NFL Draft, spending two stints with them and logging time with the Jaguars and Texans before joining the USFL’s Birmingham Stallions in 2022.

There, in 2023, McGough came off the bench to replace an injured J’Mar Smith in the team’s first game, never to look back. He led the Stallions to a championship thanks in part to the efforts that made him that year’s USFL Most Valuable Player.

McGough threw for 2,104 passing yards, 20 touchdowns and five interceptions, and he showed off his legs to the tune of five more scores and 403 yards on the ground.

The Packers took notice, signing him and stashing him on the practice squad following last year’s training camp.

The mobility he displayed in the USFL, combined with the athleticism evident in scout teamwork during his 2023 season in Green Bay, has provided McGough his next opportunity at finding a more permanent home in the NFL.

He switches over to a young Packers WR room brimming with potential, as Green Bay passed on drafting at the position thanks to the collective development of Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks.

At the quarterback position, the Packers are currently left working with Jordan Love, Sean Clifford and seventh-round rookie Michael Pratt.

It will take a banner summer and likely a knack for special teams for McGough to carve out a WR role on the active roster. If he does, his first official NFL snap on offence now appears destined to come out wide rather than under centre.