NFL roster cutdowns over the weekend brought plenty of storylines for former Ohio State football players, but none stranger than what happened with former Buckeye quarterbacks Quinn Ewers and Kyle McCord.

The Miami Dolphins traded Ewers to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday for a seventh-round draft pick, then turned around and acquired McCord from the Green Bay Packers. 

Two Ohio State transfer quarterbacks were essentially swapped out by the same NFL team in a matter of hours.

Ewers’ time with the Dolphins came to an end Saturday when Miami shipped him to the Jaguars for a seventh-round pick. The move gives Ewers a fresh start in Jacksonville, where he’ll have a chance to be a backup option behind Trevor Lawrence.

Ewers left Ohio State after his freshman season and became a multi-year starter at Texas before entering the NFL. Now he’ll look to carve out a role with the Jaguars after Miami essentially moved on from him. 

Kyle McCord lands in Miami after strong preseason

Where the Dolphins went after trading Ewers is the more notable part of the story. Miami acquired McCord from Green Bay to serve as its backup quarterback for the 2026 season, sending a sixth-round pick in the 2028 NFL Draft to the Packers.

McCord earned that opportunity with a strong preseason in Green Bay. He was particularly sharp in the third and final preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals, completing 22-of-35 passes for 226 yards and four touchdown passes. There were plenty of Packers fans who wanted McCord to remain their backup behind Jordan Love, but Green Bay opted to capitalize on his value.

McCord was a sixth-round pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2025 NFL Draft. He hasn’t appeared in a regular-season game to date, but he’s clearly earned a spot on a 53-man roster for the first time in his career. That’s a solid milestone for a player who spent multiple years at Ohio State before transferring to Syracuse, where he started games as well.

A unique Ohio State connection for the NFL trades

The full picture is what makes this weekend stand out. Two former Ohio State quarterbacks who both transferred out of Columbus to start elsewhere in college were essentially swapped by the same NFL franchise over the course of a single weekend. Ewers left Ohio State for Texas and became a multi-year starter for the Longhorns. McCord departed for Syracuse and put together a productive career year before getting drafted.

For Ohio State fans tracking former Buckeyes across the league, this was one of the more unusual developments to come out of cutdown weekend. McCord locking down a 53-man roster spot is a nice step forward in his young NFL career, and both quarterbacks now head into the regular season with something to prove in their new situations, especially if they have to hit the field.