Packers release QB Danny Etling

Etling was QB for Green Bay in Saturday’s Family Night

Less than 24 hours after quarterback Danny Etling was leading the Green Bay Packers’ second-team offense on Family Night, the Packers announced the release of the quarterback on Sunday. Etling received virtually all of the team’s second-team snaps up to this point of the offseason, but had rookie fifth-round pick Sean Clifford breathing down his neck.

Etling has been with Green Bay since January of 2022, spending all of last season on the team’s practice squad as the third-string quarterback. The 29-year-old quarterback had also made stops with seven other NFL franchises during his professional career, including a conversion to the receiver position, at one point.

With Etling out of the picture, the assumption is that Clifford, who had a solid night of practice on Family Night, will jump up to the second-team offense and Alex McGough, who was recently signed from the USFL ranks, will become the third-string quarterback.

Splitting the backup reps behind starter Jordan Love — who is taking plenty of snaps going into his first year as a starter — from three players to two players seems to make sense, as the team is ramping up for the regular season.

Tomorrow’s practice will be the Packers’ last practice in Green Bay before they take off to Cincinnati for joint practices with the Bengals, ahead of their preseason matchup. The next week, the New England Patriots will come to town for joint practices and a preseason game.

At the moment, there have been no corresponding roster moves made, meaning that the Packers have an open roster spot. With only one cutdown date (August 29th) for teams to get down from 90-man rosters to 53-man rosters, it’s expected that Green Bay will use that empty roster spot in the near future. The Packers’ roster currently sits at 90 players, but the team has a roster exemption for international player pathways player Kenneth Odumegwu, which allows them to go up to 91.