The Philadelphia Eagles‘ QB2 battle is under a microscope this offseason, as the team has struggled to pick between Andy Dalton and Tanner McKee.
After a Week 2 loss against the New England Patriots in the NFL preseason, there just might be a bit of a breakthrough.
When the Eagles linked for practice on Monday, August 24, Tanner McKee was utilized as the first Jalen Hurts backup, a position that Dalton has held for most of the offseason.
“Tanner McKee was first up as QB2 today,” Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation wrote on Monday.
“Nothing overly flashy but a lot of shorter completions. Felt like the ball rarely hit the ground when he was out there. Andy Dalton did have a good completion to Moore along the sideline. No major movement in this battle today.”
Are The Eagles Getting Answers?
Before the first week of the preseason, Dalton seemed to be in front. He was picking up most of the QB2 reps. After Game 1 in Baltimore, there wasn’t any movement. Both quarterbacks struggled within the offense.
Week 2 was a different story. Dalton struggled as the starter against the New England Patriots. McKee came in and thrived.
After the game, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni claimed that the battle was still ongoing, but there seems to be a little more intrigue with McKee at QB2 this week.
“The reason Andy is going in first is because he’s not going to play as much as Tanner because he has more experience and he has more experience within this type of system, and Tanner needs to continue to play there,” Sirianni said after the game.
“I think you saw the improvements there from Tanner. We got to continue to give both of them opportunities within practice and potentially games. We’ll see how both games go. Obviously, I’m not there yet [for next week’s game]. But obviously, that was the plan today.”
The Eagles will close out their preseason on Friday against the Cincinnati Bengals. It seems there is a chance that McKee could get the starting nod.