Tanner McKee is exactly what the Eagles need ... in a backup quarterback

There is a faction among Eagles fans and NFL cognoscenti that hoped Tanner McKee would on Sunday provide a quarterback controversy on which they could feed during the cold winter months. They hoped McKee, a sixth-round pick in 2023, might sufficiently shine in a meaningless game against a moribund team so that he might be considered a viable threat to Jalen Hurts, a two-time Pro Bowl player and the reigning Super Bowl MVP.

That didn’t happen.

That was never going to happen.

McKee could have thrown for 350 yards with five touchdown passes and he still wouldn’t sniff the starting job in Philadelphia until Hurts gives it away.

Hurts might throw three interceptions and he might fumble twice next weekend in the playoff opener against the 49ers and the starting job will still be his, both in September and in January.

McKee started his second NFL game Sunday. It was an insignificant game against an insignificant team playing its least significant players.

In this context, McKee looked fine: 21-for-40, one touchdown, one interception, against the five-win Commanders, who won, 24-17. He threw crisp passes, usually on time. He recognized defenses. He moved well in the pocket. He ran a couple of times.

“I thought he did a lot of good things,” coach Nick Sirianni said.

He also threw two uncatchable passes late in the fourth quarter that ended the Eagles’ chances to win, in the very moments when the Bears were in the process of losing to the Lions. An Eagles win and a Bears loss would have given the Eagles the No. 2 seed instead of No. 3, which would have guaranteed at least two home games in the playoffs.

Notably, McKee did this without the services of the team’s top running back, four of its top offensive linemen, its top tight end, one of its top two receivers, and, after two series, both of its top receivers: DeVonta Smith played until he hit the 1,000-yard mark, then left.

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McKee looked a lot like he looked in a similar context: Game 17 of the 2024 season, when he beat the three-win Giants: 269 yards, two touchdowns, no turnovers.

He didn’t face the best of the Commanders. They didn’t blitz much. They didn’t play particularly hard. And, of course, they stink.

Still, McKee looked good enough to win a game or two, maybe even in the playoffs. This, for the Eagles, is excellent news: They have a competent backup quarterback on whom they have expended almost no draft or salary-cap capital.

McKee makes just over $1 million, and he seems capable. Benched Giants has-been Russell Wilson will take home $10.5 million this season. The Jets’ Tyrod Taylor and the Broncos’ Jarrett Stidham each have two-year, $12 million contracts. Marcus Mariota, the Commanders’ understudy, made $8 million. The Panthers’ Andy Dalton and Jameis Winston, one of the QBs who replaced Wilson, each made $4 million.

» READ MORE: Let’s stop acting like the Eagles haven’t had a great season

The Eagles’ biggest question entering the 2025 season didn’t involve the third cornerback, or defensive line depth, or the departure of mediocre right guard Mekhi Becton. The biggest question was:

If Hurts got injured, as he has done each of the first five seasons of his career, and with no veteran backup on the roster, would McKee be good enough to replace him? After all, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie subscribes to the notion that, if the most important player is the quarterback, then the second-most important player is the backup. That’s why he and Howie Roseman signed Nick Foles in 2017, and it’s why they drafted Hurts in 2020.

Sunday’s performance delivered another indication that, yes, if Hurts gets hurt, McKee can do the job.

Until then, it’s Hurts’ job. He’s been too good, or at least good enough, too often for too long.

Further, cutting or moving Hurts before the end of the 2027 season would incur more than $20 million in dead money. McKee is under contract through 2026 for just over $1 million.

Hurts has had his haters since he hit Philly. Every time he slumps, and every time he misses a receiver over the middle, the haters surface, louder than ever. It doesn’t matter if it’s Gardner Minshew, Kenny Pickett, or McKee: Their preferred choice is Anybody But Jalen.

When Hurts struggled from Games 10-13, beginning in mid-November, multiple reports asserted that several people in the Eagles organization were wondering if benching Hurts in favor of McKee might be necessary to mount a viable Super Bowl defense. Hurts’ passer rating in that span was just 68.7. The Eagles averaged 17.8 points in those games and went 1-3. He turned the ball over seven times in those four games, including five times in a road loss to the Chargers, the worst game of his career and the last of that span.

Nevertheless, Sirianni declared that any consideration of benching Hurts was “ridiculous” — a declaration that was, itself, ridiculous, considering how badly Hurts was playing.

» READ MORE: Nick Sirianni: Sitting Jalen Hurts ‘ridiculous’? Hardly. Bench him if he struggles Sunday.

In the end, it didn’t matter. As his job security was being debated, Hurts responded with the best game of his career, a 31-0 win over the visiting, hapless Raiders. He further secured his place with solid wins in Washington and Buffalo.

The Chargers game was an aberration. Hurts has nearly mastered the art of not losing games. He’ll even win you one every now and then.

For a team that possesses an elite defense, powerful weapons, and a sturdy offensive line, that’s all that matters.

No matter what happens in the next few weeks, there will be no legitimate calls for McKee to start any meaningful games.

Not until mid-November, anyway.

Listen to the latest episode

The Eagles have a solid stash of draft picks (8) and, for a team just one season removed from winning the Super Bowl, a lot of positions that need to be addressed. Several elite members of the offensive line could be on the verge of retirement, while the wide receiver corps appears destined to lose a dynamic member. After bolstering the defense in the early rounds of the draft in recent years, will general manager Howie Roseman pivot this spring? The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane and Devin Jackson combine their reporting and analysis to forecast how the Eagles might attack the 2026 NFL Draft, which gets underway Thursday in Pittsburgh. Listen here.

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