The Philadelphia Eagles signed 38-year-old QB Andy Dalton to be Jalen Hurts’ backup with the expectation that if anything happened to him he’d be able to come in and manage a game. But when that exact situation came up in Monday’s loss to the Chicago Bears, Dalton choked. And that might have cost him his job.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni was noncommittal on the topic of who QB2 would be for the team’s big home game against the Los Angeles Rams this weekend. Sirianni even called out Dalton for a key turnover that cost the team points on Monday.
“You know, I have a lot of faith in both of those guys,” Sirianni said, via pennlive.com. “Obviously, what happened in the game, we don’t want turnovers by anybody… We can’t turn the ball over. We did in that situation, and we lost points because of it. But I still have faith in Tanner, in Andy, in how [rookie] Cole [Payton] is developing. I still have faith in that room.”
If Dalton truly has lost his job, then the man to step in would have to be Tanner McKee. The Eagles have actually gotten decent production from McKee in stretches since taking him in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
McKee is 1-1 as a starter with five touchdowns and one interception in six career games. He’s no Jalen Hurts, but in a pinch he clearly has his uses.
Hurts in 2026
The backup situation is more important than its been for the Eagles in a while because starting QB Jalen Hurts has seriously underwhelmed over the first few games.
Through three games he is completing 64.4-percent of his passes for 620 yards and five touchdowns with three interceptions. He’s already on pace for the highest interception rate of his career and his accuracy is at a five-year low.
Simply put, the Eagles need to nail down their backup QB situation in case the unthinkable happens.
