Will Grier retires from football

Grier returns to the Panthers after starting two games for Carolina in 2019. He completed 52 percent of his passes, with zero touchdowns and four interceptions. Grier has not played in a regular season game since 2019, and will likely function as the Panthers’ No. 3 quarterback behind Bryce Young and Kenny Pickett if he indeed makes the 2026 roster.

Grier spent the 2025 season on the Cowboys’ practice squad and was signed to a futures contract in January. Grier, 30, has spent time with the Panthers, Bengals, Patriots, Chargers and Eagles since entering the NFL in 2019 as a third-round pick. He has decent odds of finding a spot on a practice squad.

The usual. Grier spent all of 2022 and most of 2024 with the Cowboys practice squad. He’s back to ride again. Joining him on the Dallas practice squad are: LB Justin Barron, WR Jalen Brooks, DT Earnest Brown, G Saahdiq Charles, T Geron Christian, S Alijah Clark, WR Jalen Cropper, RB Malik Davis, TE Rivaldo Fairweather, TE Princeton Fant, CB Kemon Hall, WR Traeshon Holden, LB Buddy Johnson and CB Robert Rochell.

The 30-year-old at one point stood as Dallas’ QB2 this offseason, but Dallas traded for Joe Milton and Grier is likely looking at a practice squad placement yet again. He’s played in just two career games. The Cowboys also released: OL La’el Collins, OL Saahdiq Charles, OL Geron Christian, OL Hakeem Adeniji, CB Israel Mukuamu, DL Earnest Brown IV, CB C.J. Goodwin, CB Michael Ojemudia, CB Robert Rochell, CB Kemon Hall, LB Darius Harris and LB Buddy Johnson. They waived: DT Denzel Daxon, DT Tommy Akingbesote, WR Josh Kelly, WR Traeshon Holden, WR Jalen Cropper, TE Princeton Fant, TE John Stephens Jr., TE Rivaldo Fairweather, TE Tyler Neville, CB Troy Pride, S Mike Smith, S Alijah Clark, LB Justin Barron, RB Malik Davis and DE Tyrus Wheat.

Another thing it wouldn’t be is inspiring, which the sentence “Grier will be 30 at the start of the season but he’s only played in two career NFL games” conveys well. Trey Lance is still available in free agency, but it appears the Cowboys have realized they’re not going to make that happen. Surely the Cowboys had to have had good pre-draft grades on Matt Corral or something like that, right? But no, here we are, staring down Will Grier starts behind a quarterback who has missed 14 games the last three seasons.

It is a low-impact inactives list for the Cowboys in Week 18. Dallas has been eliminated from playoff contention and will look to impact the Commanders’ playoff seeding with a win this week. Grier will serve as the emergency third quarterback, having just been signed to the active roster this past week.

Grier was with the fringes of the Cowboys roster in 2022, but waived him at last cuts in 2023. The Eagles released him from the practice squad to give him a chance to play in Dallas, and there’s not a better depth chart for an aspiring third quarterback to look up to than Cooper Rush and Trey Lance. Grier has two career starts, both made in 2019, and is 29 years old.

Grier bounced around between the Bengals, Patriots, and Chargers in 2023, but didn’t play a down of football in the regular season. The former third-round pick hasn’t taken a regular season snap since 2019, and will face an uphill battle to make the Eagles’ 53-man roster this offseason. He’ll likely battle with Kenny Pickett for the backup job, but landing a spot on Philly’s practice squad seems like the best case scenario for him at this point.

The team signed Will Grier off the Patriots’ practice squad to their active roster in a corresponding move. Per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Duggan will be brought back on the Chargers’ practice squad if he clears waivers. Grier is now in line to serve as Easton Stick’s backup for the remainder of the season.

Grier was drafted in the third round by the Carolina Panthers in 2019 and started two games that season, completing 28-of-52 passes for 228 yards with four interceptions and no touchdowns. He has not played another regular season NFL snap since. The Patriots signed Grier off the Bengals’ practice squad in September, but he did not appear in a game and was released Grier in late November. While he was expected to explore his options, he wound up returning to the Patriots before now being signed away by the Chargers, who are clearly looking for other options after watching Easton Stick under center against the Raiders last week. It’s unclear if Grier will be given a chance to get up to speed in time to compete for the starting job before Saturday’s game against the Bills, but it’s apparent that Chargers’ interim GM JoJo Wooden is not satisfied with Stick as their best option while Justin Herbert is out.