McCord's 2026 Preseason Finale Makes His Backup Case Real
Kyle McCord threw for 226 yards and four touchdowns on a 119.5 passer rating against Arizona — nearly triple his 2025 finale mark — while Tyrod Taylor didn't record a stat line in the same game. The numbers back keeping him.
Published: · Figures as of August 29, 2026
Asked: Should the Packers keep Kyle McCord?
McCord's finale outperformed the other backup candidate
Kyle McCord threw for 226 yards on 22-of-35 passing (62.9%) with four touchdowns and no interceptions in Saturday's 42-38 preseason finale against Arizona, a passer rating of 119.5 — the best of his three 2026 preseason appearances and a clear step up from a year ago. Whether the Packers should keep him is their call to make, but the evidence available says his case has strengthened materially, while the other backup on the roster, Tyrod Taylor, didn't produce anything close to it in the games he did play.
McCord's preseason arc, year over year
| Game | Att-Comp | Yards | TD-INT | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 finale (vs NYJ) | 35-15 | 136 | 0-1 | 42.1 |
| 2026 week 2 (vs PIT) | 16-12 | 102 | 0-0 | 91.1 |
| 2026 week 3 (vs DEN) | 19-12 | 118 | 0-0 | 80.6 |
| 2026 finale (vs ARI) | 35-22 | 226 | 4-0 | 119.5 |
Same volume in both finales (35 attempts), and completion rate jumped from 42.9% a year ago to 62.9% now, with a passer rating nearly triple last year's finale mark.
| Preseason Week | Kyle McCord (passer rating) | Tyrod Taylor (passer rating) |
|---|---|---|
| Wk2 | 91.1 | 56.2 |
| Wk3 | 80.6 | 95.8 |
| Wk4 | 119.5 |
The depth-chart picture
- Jordan Love is the entrenched starter (23 TD passes in the 2025 regular season) and isn't part of this competition — he played only two preseason snapshots (Wk2/Wk3) at low volume, standard for a starter.
- Tyrod Taylor, a veteran arrival from the Jets, posted a 56.2 rating in week 2 and 95.8 in week 3 (8 attempts each game) but has no recorded stat line in the finale — the data doesn't say why, only that he didn't appear in that box score.
- Kyron Drones, the other QB competing in camp, was released by Green Bay on August 15, and last year's other backups (Malik Willis, Clayton Tune) are no longer with the team. That leaves McCord and Taylor as the realistic candidates for the roster's backup quarterback spot behind Love.
What the evidence supports and what it doesn't
On the measurable case: McCord's per-game efficiency has improved year over year, and in the three preseason games where both he and Taylor have recorded stats, McCord's marks are equal or better in two of three, and dramatically better in the finale where he got the extended workload. That's a real, data-backed case for keeping him.
What this can't settle: preseason snaps often come against lighter competition and with vanilla schemes, three games is a small sample, and I have no practice-squad eligibility, contract, or coaching-evaluation data — all of which factor into an actual roster decision and aren't things this data can see. Confidence in the on-field trend itself: Medium — the improvement and the finale performance are real, but the sample is thin and the decision involves roster factors beyond box scores.