By Jimmy Kempski
What stood out about McKee’s performances was that he was prepared. It’s worth noting that even in the games McKee did not play, he dressed for all of them the last two seasons as the emergency quarterback, and he had a speaker in his helmet.
“I think it’s huge,” McKee said of his opportunity to take mental reps during games. “Just being able to hear the play calls, hear what’s going through the coaches’ minds, or the quarterback’s mind. It’s great just being in their environment, just getting a feel of what it would be like to be on the field. I’m walking through what I would be doing if I were out there. When you get out there you don’t want to have to think about things like, ‘Where’s this motion going?’ You just want to go out there and play, and so I feel like getting those mental reps helps me personally.”
Personally speaking, I know that when I’m sitting in press conferences I’ll zone out for a question or two. I’m sure many of you can relate in whatever your jobs may be. But McKee seems to take pride in being an attentive student of the game, never taking any mental reps off.
2025 outlook
The Eagles’ QB room will very likely look like this:
Jalen HurtsTanner McKeeKyle McCord
Could McCord push McKee for the QB2 job? Sure, but barring some sort of disastrous training camp / preseason performance by McKee, or some otherworldly performance by McCord, McKee has a two-year advantage in the playbook, plus the above positive play on the field in real games. He will be the QB2.
It’s probably worth noting that in 2019, Nate Sudfeld had been developing behind the scenes for a couple years, and seemed poised to become the QB2 behind Carson Wentz, but the Eagles got spooked by Sudfeld’s preseason performances and signed a then-40-year-old Josh McCown out of retirement late in August. That scenario feels highly unlikely with McKee this year, for two reasons:
McKee is WAY better than Sudfeld was.If the Eagles were to unexpectedly sign or trade for a veteran backup, they’d have to either cut McKee or McCord, or keep four quarterbacks on their active roster. The only other quarterbacks on the Eagles’ roster in 2019 were Clayton Thorson and Cody Kessler, who both sucked.
If McKee plays in games this season and looks good — and if McCord shows real promise as a legitimate future QB2 — it will be interesting to see if the Eagles can flip McKee for a high pick next offseason.
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