Step Aside, Again

PHILADELPHIA – Remember when the Eagles rostered four quarterbacks to start the season?

In case you’re in need of a refresher, Andy Dalton opened the season as the primary backup to Jalen Hurts and Tanner McKee began third on the depth chart. Rounding out the room was rookie Cole Payton, who hung on as the fourth for developmental purposes.

None of them will start on Sunday afternoon, when the Eagles host the New York Giants.

That’s because the Eagles made a change at quarterback this week, replacing McKee in favor of third-year pro Joe Milton, who makes his first NFL start this weekend.

Milton assumes the reins from McKee, a starter in each of the past three games. McKee completed 72 of 114 pass attempts for 638 yards, two touchdowns and a pair of interceptions.

While the fourth-year signal caller mostly avoided costly turnovers, the offense was unable to muster any momentum with McKee at the controls.

In fairness, there have been several factors contributing to the offensive malaise, but a jolt is needed to kickstart the unit. McKee was also sacked 10 times over three games, and Milton’s mobility could help atone for the frequent protection breakdowns up front.

“Obviously, as a competitor, would love to be out there as much as I can,” McKee said Thursday. “I think when things happen that are unfortunate, you gotta control what you can control. And you have to look inward, think of what can I do moving forward to better myself, better the team. And so, that’s the approach that I’m gonna have moving forward.”

GETTY IMAGES/Mitchell Leff: Can Eagles QB Joe Milton (right) be more effective than Tanner McKee?

The Eagles are carrying a six-game losing streak, and head coach Nick Sirianni has repeatedly said that “everything’s on the table.” In search of that jolt, the Eagles elected to make a change at quarterback, inserting Milton, who will become the fourth quarterback to have thrown a pass for the team this season.

McKee said he first received the news Tuesday via phone call from Sirianni, which he said he appreciated, though the significance extends beyond the courtesy of a phone call. Sirianni didn’t want McKee to learn of the news second-hand.

“He said he wanted to communicate to the guys before he says anything to the media,” he said. “He doesn’t want us finding out in the media, which I appreciate.”

Of course, on Monday, Sirianni, when asked, seemingly closed the door on the potential of a quarterback swap this week, saying “Tanner’s our guy. We’re not making any changes there.” But McKee, who admits he’s “not a big social media guy,” didn’t see Sirianni’s comments until after receiving word of the quarterback change.

On that front, McKee said he didn’t have “any reaction” about it, and that it’s “all good.”

When it was determined last month that Hurts would be sidelined indefinitely with a blood clot, it was McKee, 26, who the Eagles turned to first.

The 2023 sixth-round pick had largely flashed in his brief appearances, exhibiting signs of development. But McKee, like the other three quarterbacks in camp this summer, required an adjustment period as he learned the new offense. He was in a two-way summerlong battle with the veteran Dalton, with both vying for the role of primary backup.

While neither McKee nor Dalton exactly ran away with the job, Dalton emerged as the winner – short-lived as his tenure in Philadelphia was.

McKee would eventually leap Dalton in the pecking order, positioning himself to be the next quarterback up. By all accounts, there was reason for optimism, even if expectations should have always been reasonably tempered. McKee had delivered in the regular season before, but this time was different.

The last time McKee had appeared in a game, the Eagles’ 30-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the preseason finale, he completed 12 of 22 pass attempts for 55 yards and an interception, capping an uneven season. Still, the mystery of what the offense might look like invited curiosity, even if the three-week run produced similar results as the previous five games.

With nine games remaining of the Eagles’ schedule, it’s difficult to definitively conclude that McKee – a free agent at season’s end – has taken his last snap in Philadelphia. The one certainty, however, is that he’ll be ready if his number is called. The focus now shifts to Milton, who first arrived in Philadelphia on Oct. 16.

Three weeks isn’t exactly much time to fully absorb a new offense – Milton’s third in three seasons – and the 26-year-old acknowledged that there is a lot of “new terminology” for him. He’s done a lot of cramming in anticipation for Sunday, but Milton has also received some helpful pointers from McKee behind the scenes.

“Joe’s been very open,” he said. “Obviously, he hasn’t been here the whole time. I’ve been training him on some of those plays. And so, I’m just talking to him about different reads, different footwork, things that we’ve had a little more time on task doing here. And so, it’s been great just communicating with him, things that I’ve seen in the past, things that we’ve learned from Jalen or that Sean (Mannion) has communicated in the past. Just things that we can reiterate to kind of slow his thinking down, and so he can just be free and be able to play like the great athlete he is.”

— Andrew DiCecco (@AndrewDiCecco) is a Staff Reporter/Content Producer for InsideTheBirds.com