3 Packers veterans who will be cut before Week 1 and why
The Green Bay Packers are all-in on a youth movement, but that means these Packers veterans will be cut by Week 1 of the 2023 season.
Aaron Rodgers‘ offseason departure has unofficially started a movement for youth with the Green Bay Packers. Jordan Love taking over at quarterback is obviously the face of that movement, but an exceptionally young group of pass-catchers, and virtually no player expected to play meaningful snaps drafted in 2015 or before other than David Bakhtiari, this group can be good now, but they’re certainly eyeing the future of the organization.
In light of that, though, the Packers indeed have some tough roster decisions to make before Week 1 of the regular season. There are several areas where Green Bay could elect to go with younger, less experienced options instead of relying on veterans, or at least the more veteran players on the roster. Or, in other cases, some veterans just simply aren’t as good as their younger peers.
As a result of that, expect these three Packers veterans to be cut before Week 1 rolls around, though perhaps for different reasons for each of them.
Packers veteran who will be cut No. 3: Danny Etling, QB
Danny Etling entered the NFL as a seventh-round pick by the New England Patriots in the 2018 season. Since coming into the league, though, he’s bounced around quite a bit, though rarely seeing the active roster.
The former LSU quarterback landed with the Packers initially in the 2021 season when he was signed with Jordan Love on the COVID-19/Reserve list, but was released within a week of being signed. But he landed back in Green Bay in 2022 having spent time with the Patriots, Falcons, Seahawks, Vikings and Broncos as well.
This offseason, though, the Packers essentially pre-wrote Etling’s pink slip, despite his experience with the organization on the practice squad.
First, Green Bay selected former Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford in the fifth round of the draft. That was then followed up just prior to training camp with the club landing USFL MVP and two-time champion Alex McGough to a deal as well.
With Clifford already flashing some positive signs in training camp and with McGough having the USFL experience under his belt in addition to time in NFL camps as well, Etling feels like the easy odd-man out of this group at quarterback. The other options behind Love are simply more enticing moving forward.