The city of backup quarterbacks continues to shine when it comes to the QB2 spot. Philadelphia, a place that has seen not one, but two players who were originally brought in to be benchwarmers win Super Bowl MVP, has a new favorite son in third-year signal-caller Tanner McKee.
McKee dazzled in the preseason on Thursday night against Cincinnati’s starting defense, completing 80 percent of his passes while throwing for 252 yards and combining for three touchdowns. This is not the first time that McKee has turned heads in the preseason, but the 2024 regular season campaign illustrated that the Stanford product can bring the goods when the games matter too, completing 66.7 percent of his passes and throwing for four touchdowns across two games, including his first career start that he won.
It’s great to make fun of the New Jersey NFL teams and say that McKee would be the best Giants or Jets quarterback in over a decade, but McKee, even with Jalen Hurts firmly entrenched as the franchise quarterback as the reigning Super Bowl MVP, absolutely has an integral place on this Eagles team.
A backup quarterback has started meaningful games in three out of four seasons in the Hurts-Nick Sirianni era. Gardner Minshew won a game in the Meadowlands in 2021 that helped keep the Birds’ playoff hopes alive. Minshew then went 0-2 in two starts as the Eagles attempted to wrap up the No. 1 seed in the NFC in 2022. Last season, Kenny Pickett started as the Birds throttled the Cowboys in Week 17 on the way to clinching the NFC East crown.
The chances are pretty good the Eagles are going to have to rely on McKee at some point in 2025. That’s not an indictment of Hurts. That’s just the nature of the sport. Fans and media members alike spent Thursday night speculating what the Eagles could fetch for a young, cost-controlled QB of McKee’s caliber, but there isn’t a single draft I would part for McKee right now.
The Eagles are in parade-or-bust mode. Anything other than hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in Santa Clara next February would be a disappointment. They have the most talented roster in the sport. The Birds are set at QB1 with a guy who’s been to the mountain and have drafted and developed their QB2 into a legitimate starting-level quarterback in this league. Being able to put in McKee, an accurate, poised passer who gives his receivers every chance to make a play, behind this offensive line and with these skill position players is going to still give the Birds a chance to make noise even if disaster strikes.
The possibility of McKee winning an important game or two, the difference between winning the division or the difference between securing a first-round bye, is more valuable in the Eagles’ pursuit of their third Super Bowl victory than any pick they could receive for next spring’s draft.
Sure, the Eagles can and will reevaluate all of this come next offseason. McKee will be a good starter in this league one day and will eventually land on a different team and make a boatload of money. That will be awesome for him. Right now, however, the Eagles know what they have in McKee if the situation calls for him to come in and save the day. No franchise is more aware, of course, of the power a transformative backup quarterback can have than the Birds.
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