How Tanner Mckee Found Out He Was Benched And What He's Doing About It

How Tanner McKee found out he was benched and what he's doing about it originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Nick Sirianni was asked point-blank on Monday if a quarterback change was on the table and he shot it down emphatically. The Eagles were sticking with Tanner McKee, Sirianni insisted.

“Tanner’s our guy,” Sirianni said on Monday afternoon. “We’re not making any changes there.

The next day McKee got the call from Sirianni.

Despite what the head coach said to the world the day before, he was making a quarterback switch. McKee has been benched and Joe Milton, who arrived less than three weeks ago, will start in Week 9 against the Giants. The news broke on Wednesday.

“That’s one thing I appreciate about (the team),” McKee said on Thursday. “They’ve been very upfront about things. I know what he said in the media on Monday, the day before. But he said he wanted to communicate to the guys before he says anything to the media. He doesn’t want us finding out in the media, which I appreciate.”

McKee, 26, said he isn’t on social media, so he didn’t know about Sirianni’s declaration on Monday until after he found out he was demoted. So at least there’s that.

Jalen Hurts began the year as the Eagles’ starting quarterback but has been out since the Panthers game with blood clots that are claiming his season. McKee made the last three starts and the Eagles lost all of them. While McKee isn’t the only reason they lost, he also wasn’t able to do enough to win.

Over the last three weeks, McKee completed 63.2% of his passes for 638 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. He had a passer rating of 76.6 as the Eagles lost to the Panthers, Cowboys and Commanders. And there’s no doubt that McKee struggled on Sunday in Washington, especially with his pocket awareness.

What more could he have done?

“I think, watching the film, different decisions, different throws,” McKee said. “Obviously, as a quarterback, have to take accountability for things like that. I think you have to go back and review everything that was done even throughout the week. I thought I had a great process. Thought I felt prepared. I don’t have any regrets there. I think you have to go back and be like, ‘What could I have done there?’ And take that approach as well.”

The Eagles initially drafted McKee in the sixth round out of Stanford back in 2023 and groomed him to be their backup quarterback. That was the job he held all of last season coming off a Super Bowl parade. This offseason, though, the Eagles brought in veteran Andy Dalton to compete for that back job and Dalton won. But Dalton was demoted after throwing an interception against the Bears in Week 3 and was eventually released.

It’s definitely fair to question how the Eagles have handled the quarterback position all year. McKee went from competing for the backup job to being the 3, then the 2, then the 1 and is now the 2 again.

And he’s not resigned to staying in that spot.

“This is the NFL. Competition is always open,” McKee said. “I’ll keep our conversation private. I don’t know how much [Sirianni has] been open to the media about our conversation. But there’s always competition. This is the NFL. So you gotta go out, you’ve got to perform every week. I’m going to approach it as a competition and be ready in case my number is called. Whether that’s an injury or my number is just called.”

It’s not like McKee got to play with a full deck over the last three weeks. He was without DeVonta Smith and Dontavyion Wicks for the last two of those losses and Saquon Barkley hasn’t been healthy either. Not to mention, the offensive line hasn’t played up to its standard all season.

But when McKee was asked on Thursday why he wasn’t given the benefit of the doubt with all the injuries, he made no excuses.

“We have great players and we had great players on the field,” McKee said. “The expectation is to go out and win and unfortunately, I fell short doing that. And I gotta be better and make better plays.”

Because Milton arrived less than three weeks ago, McKee has been helping him as much as possible this week. Milton missed all of the install during training camp and has had to catch up quickly before his first NFL start on Sunday.

Even though Milton took his job, McKee has been more than willing to help him this week.

“In sports, you gotta have a short memory,” McKee said. “I’m still a Philadelphia Eagle. I want the team to perform so anything I can do to help the team, whether that’s helping Joe or Jalen or whoever it is, that’s my job, that’s my role and that’s what I’m going to do.”

As a 2023 draft pick, McKee is in the final year of his rookie contract with the Eagles. Based on the way this season has gone, there seems to be a pretty good chance he won’t be back with the team in 2027.

But McKee isn’t trying to rush that fate. McKee was asked on Thursday if he wants to still be here the rest of this season or if he’d prefer a clean break.

“I love it here,” he said. “It’s a great place. I have a lot of confidence in the coaches, in our scheme, Sean (Mannion). And so I’m happy to be here. I love being here. And I love to compete. Like we said, in the NFL, things are going to go up and down. It’s going to be a roller coaster. But you have to love that as a competitor and you have to embrace that. That’s my approach. That’s what I’m going to do.”