Kyle McCord’s move to Miami happened fast.
One day, the 23-year-old quarterback was wrapping up a strong preseason with the Green Bay Packers. The next, he was headed south after the Miami Dolphins sent a 2028 sixth-round pick to Green Bay to bring him in as their new backup quarterback.
For McCord, it was the latest stop in an NFL career that has already placed him in quarterback rooms alongside Jalen Hurts, Jordan Love and Tyrod Taylor.
“It was a wild 24 hours,” McCord said last week in Miami Gardens. “I got the call from [Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst] up in Green Bay, and he told me that I did a good job in camp and they wanted to keep me, but when Miami offered him a pick, it was a good opportunity for them to get a pick for me, and then a good opportunity for me to go from being the three in Green Bay to the two here.”
Now, with the regular season approaching, McCord has gone from competing for a spot in Green Bay to learning a new offense in Miami.
And he does not have much time to waste. After all, the Dolphins, who open on Sunday vs. the Las Vegas Raiders, traded for McCord with a clear role in mind.
“We traded for McCord to be the backup,” Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley said. “I thought he had a really good training camp. We’ll see what happens, but that would be my expectation to start the year.”
For McCord, that opportunity represents another step forward in a young career built around learning, adapting and waiting for his chance.
LEARNING FROM SOME OF THE LEAGUE’S BEST
McCord entered the NFL as a sixth-round pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2025 NFL Draft after finishing his college career at Syracuse.
He spent his rookie season on Philadelphia’s practice squad before moving to Green Bay, where another crowded quarterback room ultimately became an important part of his development.
The names around him certainly did not hurt.
McCord has spent time learning behind Hurts in Philadelphia and Love in Green Bay. He also shared a room with veteran Tyrod Taylor, who McCord pointed to as an example of what longevity in the NFL looks like.
“Both of them, obviously, playing styles are a little bit different, but both great quarterbacks,” McCord said about Hurts and Love. “Just being a younger guy, being able to be in the room with two guys like that early in your career helps a lot.”
But his time in Green Bay taught McCord something beyond how to play quarterback in the NFL. It taught him not to become so concerned with avoiding mistakes that he stops trying to make plays.
Watching Love play aggressively and seeing the Packers coaching staff encourage that approach changed the way McCord thought about his own game.
“I think sometimes, as a young guy in the league, it’s like, ‘OK, I just want to go out there and do my job and not mess up,'” McCord said. “But just watching the way Jordan plays, he’s going to play aggressive. He’s going to push the ball down the field.”
McCord took that mentality into the preseason, and the results attracted people’s attention.
Gutekunst said McCord played well enough that Green Bay considered carrying three quarterbacks rather than risk losing him.
“He played so well during the preseason, that obviously, we were contemplating, ‘Do we keep three quarterbacks?'” Gutekunst said last week. “And that’s such a credit to the kid. Kyle worked diligently, and he’s really smart.”
Miami was watching, too.
AN OPPORTUNITY MIAMI COULDN’T PASS UP
Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan’s interest in McCord did not begin with his preseason in Green Bay.
Sullivan had followed him since college and saw qualities in McCord that he believed could translate to Miami’s offense.
“I’ve always been a fan of his,” Sullivan said last week. “I feel like when you watch the kid play, he’s a keep-the-train-on-the-tracks kind of guy. I think he processes the game quick. I think he throws an accurate catchable football.”
Those happen to be two of the qualities McCord considers his biggest strengths.
“I think just my processing, being able to one, know what we have called, and then, see what the defense plays and get the ball to the right guy on time, allowing the playmakers to go out and make plays, and then my accuracy too,” McCord said.
Those strengths helped make him one of college football’s most productive quarterbacks.
After spending three seasons at Ohio State, McCord transferred to Syracuse for his final college season and led the NCAA with 4,779 passing yards in 2024. He threw 34 touchdown passes, earned second-team All-ACC honors and left Syracuse holding several single-season program records. He finished his college career with a 22-4 record as a starting quarterback.
But his arrival in Miami brings a different challenge. McCord has to take everything he has learned and translate it into a new offense with the regular season right around the corner.
Fortunately, there are already a couple familiar faces helping him do it.
FROM WISCONSIN TO FLORIDA
The transition has been made easier by Dolphins starting quarterback Malik Willis, whose own career path included time in Green Bay before Miami.
McCord said Willis has essentially become a translator for him, helping connect concepts and terminology from the Packers offense to what he is learning with the Dolphins.
“Everybody here has made the transition as easy as possible,” McCord said. “Being in the room with Malik, obviously has helped a lot, given that he was in the same spot I was that I’m coming from and kind of being the translator for the offense and putting in terms that I’m familiar with.”
McCord also reunited with Kevin Patullo, whom he worked with during his season in Philadelphia.
“As soon as I got the call that I was coming here, that was one of the first things that I thought of is that KP is down here,” McCord said. “Having a familiar face on the coaching staff is huge.”
The familiarity has helped McCord — a native of Mount Laurel, New Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia — get up to speed quicker than he initially expected.
He said many of the offensive concepts are similar to what he has run before, even if some formations, motions and terminology are different.
With the season approaching, McCord is not trying to learn everything at once. Instead, his focus is on mastering the game plan, understanding the concepts Miami expects to use and preparing himself in case his number is called.
“I feel like I’m ahead of schedule right now,” McCord said. “Just being down here for a few days, I feel like I’m picking it up pretty quickly.”
FROM BEATING MIAMI TO PLAYING IN MIAMI
There is also some irony in where McCord has landed. One of the defining moments of his college career came against the Miami Hurricanes. During his lone season at Syracuse, McCord helped the Orange upset the Hurricanes, 42-38, in a 2024 game he still considers one of his favorites.
“That was probably my favorite game from my college career,” McCord said. “Being able to go out like that and beat a great Miami team was a lot of fun.”
Now, the quarterback who once left Miami fans disappointed has a different goal.
“[I’m] hoping to make those same fans happy instead of upset,” he said.
The surroundings will take some getting used to, too.
After stops in Philadelphia and Green Bay, South Florida presents a slightly different environment, especially once winter arrives. McCord recalled traveling to Green Bay to sign during the winter and stepping off the plane into temperatures around 10 degrees below zero. He will not have to worry about that anymore.
“I think the summers in Green Bay are probably more my speed, but then once the cold comes, definitely Miami,” McCord said. “Both are great places, about as different as you can get from each other. But yeah, man, I’m excited to be here.”
More importantly, Miami represents an opportunity.
McCord went from a sixth-round pick and practice-squad quarterback to playing well enough in Green Bay that another team was willing to trade for him. The Packers wanted to keep him. The Dolphins wanted him enough to make the call. Now, McCord has to make the most of what comes next.
For a young quarterback who has spent the beginning of his NFL career learning from others, that means keeping one lesson from Green Bay particularly close.
“Don’t lose your spark,” McCord said. “Keep trying to make plays, play aggressive. Mistakes are bound to happen, but that’s part of it.”
