There could be more fallout from what happened with the Philadelphia Eagles losing quarterback Jalen Hurts for the rest of 2026. Regardless, though, the Eagles will move forward with fourth-year signal-caller Tanner McKee.
McKee had a lot of fans in the media this past summer when pundits suggested he was a trade target for other teams needing a quarterback. As an actual starter in the league, he’s posted a 1-2 record with a 6.1 yards per attempt average.
Over the past two seasons, McKee has lost both of his starts and registered a 5.6 yards per pass average while completing 56.8% of his passes.
But that hasn’t stopped Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion from expressing confidence in the 26-year-old quarterback. While speaking to reporters Wednesday, Mannion shared what McKee does well.
“I think he’s really sharp mentally. He’s accurate. He gets the ball out of his hands quickly,” said Mannion. “I think he does all the things that you ask at the quarterback in terms of his pre-snap operation and being able to use his cadence, being able to handle things at the line of scrimmage if you need adjustments.
“So, I think he’s strong in a lot of those areas, and I think it opens up some things for us offensively.”
Mannion’s comments came just four days prior to the team’s important showdown against the Dallas Cowboys.
McKee completed 57.8% of his passes for 215 yards versus the Carolina Panthers in Week 6. The Eagles fell to the Panthers 25-14.
Eagles OC Sean Mannion Addresses Tanner McKee Prior to Cowboys Matchup
The Eagles offense was in a rut before McKee’s first start this past Sunday. So it would be unfair to blame all the issues from the team’s latest loss on him.
But McKee didn’t come in and solve things either. With the quarterback change, the Eagles posted 4.8 yards per attempt and 8.3 yards per completion versus the Panthers. The offense also allowed three sacks in McKee’s first start.
It didn’t help McKee that the Eagles couldn’t run the ball at all versus Carolina. Philadelphia finished with only 35 rushing yards in the defeat.
Despite the lack of running game and the need to start the signal-caller who was the team’s QB3 to begin the season, Mannion isn’t sounding any alarm bells. The Eagles offensive coordinator sees all the issues as things the unit can stabilize.
“You look at a lot of things that we need to improve, and I think they’re totally fixable,” added Mannion. “It’s a double-edged sword, right? You look at that, and you can get frustrated by it. You can also look at that and put a silver lining on and say, ‘Man, if we just handled our simple stuff, we’re going to yield a better result.'”
Pundits loved McKee as a trade candidate this summer largely because he won his lone start during the 2024 campaign. In two games overall that season, he threw four touchdowns versus no picks and posted 7.2 yards per throw.
With Hurts out the rest of the season, those pundits will get to see McKee start without a trade. The Eagles will turn to McKee to save their season.
Despite a 2-4 start, the Eagles remain 1.5 games back of the NFC East lead with both contests versus the division-leading New York Giants still remaining.
But first, the Eagles need to beat the Cowboys, who are also 2-4. The loser will drop to 2-5 and just half a game out of last place in arguably the weakest NFL division.
Eagles OC Speaks out on QB Tanner McKee Before Pivotal Cowboys Game