Eagles

There’s One Thing that’s Really Bothering Me About the Tanner McKee Talk After Washington Loss

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jan 6th, 2026 · 11:10 AM EST

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Saw a lot of this going around on Sunday and Monday, perpetuated in particular by Crossing Broad staffers:

Can everyone shut the fuck up about Tanner McKee now?

— CogginToboggan (@CogginToboggan) January 5, 2026

I can't believe there were real human beings on this app talking like Tanner McKee could be the Eagles long-term starter

Please appreciate Jalen Hurts

— Sean Barnard (@Sean_Barnard1) January 4, 2026

Look, fair enough. McKee wasn’t amazing. He threw a bad pick and missed some open receivers. He didn’t exactly look like the second coming of Joe Montana out there, and the incessant disrespect shown to Jalen Hurts via “McKee should start” chatter has always been annoying.

Counterpoint:

Didn’t McKee look pretty good when DeVonta Smith was in the game? Who would have thought! You put a Heisman winner and stud receiver on the field and the quarterback plays a whole lot better in comparison to having Kylen Granson, Grant Calcaterra, Darius Cooper, Britain Covey, and Jahan Dotson as the targets. Not to mention, by the way, that McKee was throwing against guys like Will Harris and Mike Sainristil, who were Week 1 Washington starters. He was playing behind a second-string offensive line that was trying to block 1st stringers along the Commie front. This wasn’t some preseason battle of practice squad players.

So that’s somewhat bothersome. It’s like the discourse pendulum swung completely to the opposite side after McKee had a clunker in a difficult situation. Don’t we need to see 2-3 games of Tanner McKee throwing the ball to A.J. Brown and Dallas Goedert, while being protected by Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata, before we can come to any real conclusion as to whether he’s a starting-quality quarterback in the National Football League? It was ridiculous to think this guy was Y.A. Tittle reborn, but, by the same token, are we really gonna kill him because he didn’t beat a 1st-choice Washington team with his second-string teammates?