Seahawks acquire Brett Hundley: What it means for Alex McGough, Austin Davis

Early Wednesday morning it was reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport that the Seattle Seahawks have traded a sixth-round draft pick for Green Bay Packers backup quarterback Brett Hundley. The former UCLA star was in competition with DeShone Kizer, and obviously we know how that’s turned out.

Hundley started more than half of Green Bay’s games last year while Aaron Rodgers was out with a broken collarbone. To put it kindly, the results were bad. Two of his starts ended in shutout losses, his completion percentage was 60.8%, he threw 12 interceptions to just 9 touchdowns, and his ANY/A was 3.7. He’s not a good quarterback, but he has starting experience, and based on Pete Carroll’s comments, he’s going to be the #2 QB behind Russell Wilson this year.

“He’s going into his fourth year now,” Carroll said of Hundley (via The News Tribune). “He’s played quite a bit; he started a bunch of games last year. We’ve been able to see him, how he’s really developed. And we liked him coming out of college, as well. He’s big. He runs well. He’s got a good arm. He’s got good vision of the field. He’s made big throws and big plays.

“He really gives you the thought he can come into a game and keep it moving. So, we just thought it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.”

What about Alex McDough and Austin Davis?

Seattle had their own backup QB competition throughout preseason between Austin Davis and Alex McGough. Davis may have won that spot last season over Trevone Boykin, but he has been dreadful and close to unwatchable through three games, so he’s surely a goner after Saturday.

McGough is a different story. The rookie had a difficult debut against the Indianapolis Colts, but showed significant improvement against the Los Angeles Chargers, and had a mixture of good and bad moments against the Minnesota Vikings. He’s obviously much younger than Davis, more mobile, more athletic, a better arm, but it’s doubtful that he’s ready to be even an NFL second-string QB.

Carroll had this to say about McGough on Wednesday: (Also from The News Tribune)

“He’s been up and down some. He’s shown really bright spots. He’s shown the athleticism and good arm and all that stuff. It’s not hard to tell that. But he just needs to try to embrace the offense, handle and take care of the football the way we need him to. He’s made some really big plays and some great throws. You can see the upside. And we can also see the newness. It’s just going to take some time, to keep developing. But he’s made good progress.”

This certainly sounds better than Pete’s own admittance that McGough was struggling during training camp, but hardly a ringing endorsement that he should be Wilson’s backup. However, unlike Davis, if the Seahawks choose to waive McGough, they can hope no one claims him and stash him on the practice squad. There’s also the slim chance that he makes the 53-man roster and is slotted as the third-string QB, but most NFL teams are only keeping two, and Seattle hasn’t had three since the Wilson/Tarvaris Jackson/B.J. Daniels era of 2014.

So the 2018 Seahawks quarterback depth chart figures to definitely have Wilson and Hundley, possibly have McGough either as third-string or (far more likely and hoped) practice squad, and definitely not Davis.