The Green Bay Packers won a thriller, if there can ever be one in August, in their preseason finale against the Arizona Cardinals. Mike LaFleur, trying to best his older brother, called two timeouts in the final five seconds of the game, trying to set up a Hail Mary after receiver KiSean Johnson’s second fourth-quarter touchdown for the Packers.
The Cardinals’ Hail Mary attempt fell short, though, and was batted away by a crowd of green and gold as Arizona fell 42-38 with zeroes on the clock.
The Packers did not play their best players on Friday Night, as 37 were held out. 32 of those players were among the 46 we listed as Packers “roster locks” earlier this week, with the remaining five comprising four players on Green Bay’s physically unable to perform list and tight end Thomas Yassmin, the Packers’ international exemption player who is currently dealing with an injury.
On top of that, others who were “active” were held out as reserve/emergency players, like backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor — who didn’t play a single snap in the game. Instead, it was Kyle McCord, Green Bay’s QB3, who played under center for the offense today.
The most interesting part of the game, from a players participating standpoint, was probably that the second-team offensive line was able to go for the game and mid-round picks Chris McClellan and Dani Dennis-Sutton (who was inactive for the first two preseason games) suited up on the line of scrimmage.
The second-team offensive line was made up of John Williams, Donovan Jennings, Jager Burton, Travis Glover (who hasn’t been getting work with the second-team up to this point) and Anthony Belton (from left to right). Glover was later kicked out to replace Belton, and Darian Kinnard, who was the team’s sixth offensive lineman in the second half of the Packers’ 2026 season, came off the bench to play right guard. Kinnard has had maybe the biggest drop on the depth chart of any returning player on Green Bay’s roster.
Defensively, the standout was easily Dennis-Sutton, who recorded one sack in his NFL debut, several pressures and a couple near-sacks, too. He looked like an NFL rookie playing against a group of practice squaders, so he’s checking the box there.
McCord continued a solid summer for the rising quarterback, completing 22 of 35 for 226 yards and four touchdowns versus the Cardinals. In total, his preseason has amounted to 70 passes for 37 completions, 446 yards (6.3 yards per attempt) and four touchdowns. Meanwhile, Taylor was 8 of 16 for 38 yards (2.4 yards per attempt) this preseason, but it appears that Taylor will be Green Bay’s backup — barring an outside addition — as he was shielded from contact tonight.
Receiver J. Michael Sturdivant, who is the most likely undrafted free agent to make the Packers’ 2026 initial 53-man roster on Sunday as a seventh receiver and special teams contributor, led the team with six receptions for 112 yards, despite Johnson hauling in one more touchdown. Meanwhile, Isaiah Neyor, who is pushing Sturdivant for a roster spot, dropped a wide-open deep ball from McCord. Will Sheppard, who has been ninth in the receiver pecking order this preseason, returned a punt for an 81-yard touchdown against the Cardinals, too.
Rookie kicker Trey Smack continues his perfect stretch of play, as he hit two more field goals and four extra points versus Arizona.
Unfortunately, the reserve defense was lunch, as they gave up 326 yards in the air (including sack yardage) and 166 yards on the ground. Obviously, an 80-point game isn’t going to have much defense played in it, but the Packers could have been much better in that department tonight. Notably, rookie cornerback Domani Jackson, who had an alright NFL debut last week after missing the preseason opener, played pretty poorly opposite Jaylin Simpson, who himself hasn’t looked good as either an outside cornerback or a slot defender this preseason.
Maybe Green Bay should just keep four true cornerbacks, if you consider Kamal Hadden a “safety” now that he’s playing in the nickel spot and” third-safety” packages on the team.
The Packers end the preseason 2-1, with more good than bad put on tape. If we’re going to crown anyone a preseason MVP this summer, it’s probably McCord, who will likely be offered a practice squad job in Green Bay this upcoming season, assuming he clears waivers on Monday. Initially, McCord battled with undrafted rookie Kyron Drones for third-team offense snaps until Drones took three sacks in four dropbacks in the preseason opener and was quickly waived — giving McCord the clear runway as the QB3.
