We’re getting close to Eagles training camp so we’re taking a look at some notable camp competitions.
We already looked at RG, RB, WR3, S, CB and P.
Up today: Third-string QB
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The Eagles’ quarterback room could look very different in 2023. Sure, Jalen Hurts is back after his near-MVP season a year ago. At this time last year, we were all still asking if he was the franchise quarterback; he answered that pretty emphatically. But after him, Gardner Minshew left this offseason for Indianapolis as the Eagles signed Marcus Mariota to be their backup. Signing Mariota made sense for plenty of reasons but if Hurts ever gets injured — knock on wood — then either Ian Book or newcomer Tanner McKee would be the backup.
Let’s look at the players:
Ian Book
Age: 25
Experience: Year 3
Size: 6-foot, 206 pounds
Last summer, the Eagles had four quarterbacks in camp: Hurts, Minshew, Reid Sinnett and Carson Strong. The Eagles cut both Sinnett and Strong and then claimed Book off waivers from the Saints. The Saints drafted Book in the fourth round of the 2021 draft out of Notre Dame and he spend his rookie season with the Saints, starting one game. Against the Dolphins on Dec. 27, 2021, Book completed 12 of 20 passes for 135 yards and 2 interceptions in the Saints’ 20-3 loss. That is the only game action of his career, although he did serve as the Eagles’ backup for the two games Hurts missed in 2022.
NFL
Because Book arrived after training camp last season, we haven’t really gotten a close look at him yet. In college, Book had a really good career for the Fighting Irish and was a two-time team captain. In 2020, he completed 64.6% of his passes for 2,830 yards with 15 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. In his career, he had a 72-20 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Book finished second to Brady Quinn in all-time Irish passing yards and touchdowns.
The connection between Book and the Eagles is Tommy Rees, who was the QBs coach and OC at Notre Dame during Book’s time there. Rees was an offensive assistant with the San Diego Chargers in 2016 when Nick Sirianni was on staff there. Sirianni listed to Rees.
“I really trust Tommy's opinion,” Sirianni said last September. “And obviously we trust our own eyes, we trust our own scouts, but a lot of work went into that.
“One thing Tommy always said about him, and now this is a guy that won a ton of football games for him and his program at Notre Dame, is how good of a leader he is. How there would be weeks or days that went by that the ball didn't touch the ground because of how accurate he is. So, we're excited to work with the tools that he has. We know he'll fit in well with the room and fit in well with the locker room.”
Tanner McKee
Age: 23
Experience: Rookie
Size: 6-foot-6, 231 pounds
The Quarterback Factory added a new one during the draft, when the Eagles used a sixth-round pick (No. 188 overall) to select McKee out of Stanford, where he led a pro style offense. In 2022, McKee completed 62% of his passes for 2,947 yards with 13 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. He has a more prototypical quarterback frame with an NFL arm.
Sirianni has worked with different types of quarterbacks before but McKee is very clearly a different type of quarterback than Hurts or Mariota. McKee isn’t going to win with his legs but he’s looking forward to adding a bit more of that to his game.
“I'm obviously going to try to expand the tools that I have and be able to run when I need to run, and if we're going to run zone read or whatever that is that coach asks of us, I'm going to try to expand and have a bigger toolbox to try to just get the job done with anything that I need to do,” McKee said this offseason.
“Obviously, there are a lot of things that I can learn from, especially from Jalen, on how to read a defensive end and how to do things like that in the NFL with all their speed and size and things like that, that I'm really looking forward to hearing what he has to say.”
Because he missed two college seasons while serving a religious mission trip, McKee is an older prospect but not a super experienced one; he was a two-year starter at Stanford. But he has projectable traits and it’ll be fun to watch him battle it out this summer.
Outlook
This might not seem like the most exciting position battle. Who cares who wins the No. 3 quarterback job? But the Eagles signed Mariota to a one-year deal and there’s no guarantee he’s back after the 2023 season. So if there’s a chance the Eagles could find a cheaper and adequate backup behind their $255 million starter, it’s worth taking a look. It’s also a fun battle because we haven’t seen either of these two quarterbacks in Eagles training camp before. It’s going to look funny to see them take snaps back-to-back just because of how much bigger McKee is.
So who wins the job? Hard to say right now. The first thought is that the Eagles didn’t draft McKee to cut him but Book was a higher draft pick (albeit of a different team) not that long ago. And Book already has a year of this offense under his belt, which is a clear head start. Will McKee’s arm stand out enough to outweigh that? We’ll find out soon enough.
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