During the offseason, we’ll be taking a close look at Philadelphia Eagles players of interest who are currently on the roster but we may not know a lot about just yet. In this edition, we’ll take a look at backup quarterback Tanner McKee.<\/p>\n
PREVIOUS PLAYER REVIEWS<\/p>\n
Kelee Ringo<\/a>\u00a0| Sydney Brown<\/a>\u00a0| Will Shipley<\/a> McKee has been in Philly since 2023, when the Eagles selected him in the sixth round of the draft.<\/p>\n In his rookie season, McKee had a strong training camp and an impressive preseason, but he did not appear in any games, as he was the QB3 behind Jalen Hurts and Marcus Mariota.<\/p>\n After the start of free agency in 2024, the Eagles made something of a surprise move when they traded a third-round pick and a pair of seventh-round picks for Kenny Pickett and a fourth-round pick. For that kind of price, it was clear that Pickett would be the QB2 and McKee would remain the QB3 for another season.<\/p>\n Pickett relieved a concussed Hurts during the Eagles’ Week 16 loss to the Washington Commanders. He did some good things, but he probably did more bad things (as shown here<\/a>). After the loss, there was a lot of hand-wringing locally over what the Eagles needed to do to hide Pickett’s deficiencies to beat the Cowboys the following week, but he played well before leaving the game with an injury to his ribs. McKee entered the game,\u00a0and threw dimes, finishing 3-for-4 for 54 yards, two TDs, 0 INTs, and a QB rating of 156.2.<\/p>\n McKee then started in the Eagles’ meaningless Week 18 game against the Giants, and picked up where he left off the previous week, completing three of three passes for 48 yards and a TD pass on the Eagles’ first drive. At that point in the game, his career numbers were as follows: 6-for-7 for 102 yards, three TDs. McKee cooled off a bit as the game progressed, but he did enough to pick up a win in his first career start.<\/p>\n Here we’ll look at McKee’s two performances.<\/p>\n Week 17 vs. the Cowboys\u2022 McKee to DeVonta Smith for 9: At the top of the screen, Smith and Grant Calcaterra are running double slants, a staple in the Eagles’ offense. This throw is a smidge behind Smith, perhaps on purpose, but it’s complete for a positive gain on 2nd and 11. I say “perhaps on purpose” because McKee might have been peeping 2 (slot CB Jourdan Lewis) sitting on a throw to Smith and potentially coming off of Calcaterra to jump it, in the event the Cowboys were in zone coverage. Nice awareness, if so, on McKee’s first career NFL pass.<\/p>\n \u2022 McKee incomplete to A.J. Brown:\u00a0On his second throw, McKee said he saw pre-snap that A.J. Brown was going to have a one-on-one, and was throwing that way.<\/p>\n Hm, elite receiver who does everything well, let him go beat a guy trying to cover him man-to-man, one-on-one? Makes sense!In this case though, Cowboys CB DaRon Bland did a good job of body positioning and using the sideline as his friend. Brown made a ridiculous catch, but he landed out of bounds. But this was ideal ball placement from McKee, putting it in a spot where only Brown could get it, but also giving him a reasonable chance of making a play on the ball.”I was actually happier with that throw than I was with the touchdown,” McKee said of that throw after the game. “I thought it was just higher. The other one was lower in his hip.”<\/p>\n \u2022 McKee to Brown for 20 yards, TOUCHDOWN:\u00a0After the above incompletion to Brown, the Cowboys and Eagles traded pre-snap penalties, before McKee once again spotted a one-on-one opportunity for Brown, this time with Brown working from the slot. He tossed his first career TD pass to Brown on a nice back shoulder throw.<\/p>\n After the play, if you’ll recall, Brown threw the ball into the stands, lol, which was later returned to Brown and then to McKee.<\/p>\n \u2022 McKee to Smith for 25 yards, TOUCHDOWN:\u00a0And finally, McKee connected on an in-breaker with Smith on a rub concept with Calcaterra. McKee liked the Cowboys’ off-coverage look pre-snap, which he knew would afford Smith plenty of separation with the play they had called in the huddle.<\/p>\n McKee threw a good ball, and Smith did the rest.\u00a0A+ debut.Week 18 vs. the Giants<\/p>\n I had planned on cutting up all of McKee’s throws from his first ever NFL start against the Giants, but NFL Pro (all-22) started giving me issues, so I scrapped that. Instead, here are McKee highlights from that game, via the NFL<\/a>. Sorry.\u00a0\ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2642\ufe0f<\/p>\n<\/p>\n As you can see, McKee made a lot of nice reads and throws in that game, all while playing with other backups against the Giants’ starters.<\/p>\n McKee is currently tied for the best winning percentage in Eagles history:<\/p>\n \u2022 Jack Concannon (3-0) What stood out about McKee’s performances was that he was prepared. It’s worth noting that even in the games McKee did not play, he dressed for all of them the last two seasons as the emergency quarterback, and he had a speaker in his helmet.<\/p>\n “I think it\u2019s huge,” McKee said of his opportunity to take mental reps during games. “Just being able to hear the play calls, hear what\u2019s going through the coaches\u2019 minds, or the quarterback\u2019s mind. It\u2019s great just being in their environment, just getting a feel of what it would be like to be on the field. I\u2019m walking through what I would be doing if I were out there. When you get out there you don\u2019t want to have to think about things like, \u2018Where\u2019s this motion going?\u2019 You just want to go out there and play, and so I feel like getting those mental reps helps me personally.”<\/p>\n Personally speaking, I know that when I’m sitting in press conferences I’ll zone out for a question or two. I’m sure many of you can relate in whatever your jobs may be. But McKee seems to take pride in being an attentive student of the game, never taking any mental reps off.<\/p>\n 2025 outlook<\/p>\n The Eagles’ QB room will very likely look like this:<\/p>\n Jalen HurtsTanner McKeeKyle McCord<\/p>\n Could McCord push McKee for the QB2 job? Sure, but barring some sort of disastrous training camp \/ preseason performance by McKee, or some otherworldly performance by McCord, McKee has a two-year advantage in the playbook, plus the above positive play on the field in real games. He will be the QB2.<\/p>\n It’s probably worth noting that in 2019, Nate Sudfeld had been developing behind the scenes for a couple years, and seemed poised to become the QB2 behind Carson Wentz, but the Eagles got spooked by Sudfeld’s preseason performances and signed a then-40-year-old Josh McCown out of retirement late in August. That scenario feels highly unlikely with McKee this year, for two reasons:<\/p>\n McKee is WAY better than Sudfeld was.If the Eagles were to unexpectedly sign or trade for a veteran backup, they’d have to either cut McKee or McCord, or keep four quarterbacks on their active roster. The only other quarterbacks on the Eagles’ roster in 2019 were Clayton Thorson and Cody Kessler, who both sucked.<\/p>\n If McKee plays in games this season and looks good \u2014 and if McCord shows real promise as a legitimate future QB2 \u2014 it will be interesting to see if the Eagles can flip McKee for a high pick next offseason.<\/p>\n Follow Jimmy & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @JimmyKempski<\/a> | thePhillyVoice<\/a><\/p>\n Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports<\/a><\/p>\n
Jeremiah Trotter<\/a>\u00a0| Ben VanSumeren<\/a>\u00a0| Jahan Dotson<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2022 Tanner McKee (1-0)
\u2022 Kenny Pickett (1-0)<\/p>\n