It’s been well documented. Green Bay Packers backup quarterback Graham Harrell had a poor showing against the Cleveland Browns Thursday night.
Harrell was 12-of-24 for 100 yards and two picks. He didn’t move the offense. Of course, everyone is panicking.
Well, almost everyone.
Aaron Rodgers isn’t panicking.
“We’ve got a lot of confidence in Graham. We’re not worried about him,” Rodgers said. “They kept their first-team defense in for the majority of the first half, I think the whole first half, and I know what that’s like at times.”
This is true. Harrell played with a bunch of scrubs. He faced a lot of pressure. His receivers didn’t always hold onto the ball. Still, there’s that troubling thing about not moving the offense. If it weren’t for two nice catch-and-run plays by Jarrett Boykin, Harrell would have thrown for about 60 yards in nearly three quarters of action.
The Packers have to be going over their options at this point. Inevitably, that always seems to bring us back to Browns backup Colt McCoy.
Adam Schefter suggests McCoy is available for a fifth-round pick.
“Cleveland would be willing to deal McCoy for the right price, no matter what it says,” wrote Schefter, “and the Packers could use McCoy as much as any team in the league right about now. He would be great insurance for [Aaron] Rodgers and give the Packers the type of backup they would need to sustain their playoff hopes in the event of an injury.”
Interestingly, the Browns played McCoy only one series last night before going to Seneca Wallace. McCoy led them to a touchdown.
It’s almost as if they were dangling McCoy in front of the Packers before pulling him back, which is probably because they didn’t want him to get injured. That would really hurt his trade value, you know?
What would McCoy bring to the Packers? Someone who knows the west coast offense and a former starter. He’s also a guy who could keep the Packers in the playoff race if Rodgers went down. That’s something Harrell doesn’t appear to be at the moment.