5 takeaways Eagles fans can’t ignore after preseason debut

We’re one day and one game closer to the start of the 2025 season. The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Cincinnati Bengals 34-27 in their first preseason game. There was a lot of good, a little bit of very bad, and a whole bunch of fine. 

That’s how it goes in preseason games. The difference here is that the Bengals played their starters in the first quarter, and it just so happens that they have one of the best offenses in the NFL. That means this was kind of an actual test, and do you know what happens when you take a test? You learn what you didn’t know. If you’re like me and had a concussion-induced, impossibly low ACT score, you learn that you didn’t know a whole lot.

An unsolved cornerback mystery

The biggest and most impressive thing in the game was the performance of the Eagles’ QB2, Tanner McKee. He was 20-of-25 for 252 yards, two passing touchdowns, and a rushing touchdown off a Tush Push. It was awesome.

That’s nothing new for him, though; we already knew that he rocks. What we didn’t know was just how consistently he rocks and how he would play as the designated backup quarterback who is throwing to the designated depth wide receivers. 

Tanner McKee is worth a lot

At the risk of sounding like a reckless lunatic: Tanner McKee is a top 20 passer in the NFL, and that might be a little bit of an understatement. 

He’s definitely better at it than whoever the Browns/Saints/Colts/Giants throw out there. He’s probably better than Aaron Rodgers, Bryce Young, Kyler Murray, Caleb Williams, and Justin Fields. He’s probably better than J.J. McCarthy and Cam Ward. That puts him somewhere around 20.

McKee was the Eagles' sixth-round pick in the 2023 draft, so this is all just a testament to what Howie Roseman, the Eagles' scouting department, and the coaching staff have done. Unfortunately, because of that, there are going to be people talking about possible trades for McKee.

No franchise appreciates a backup quarterback like the Eagles, and I can’t imagine a real scenario where they are willing to trade him. Maybe if a team dropped a top-45 2026 draft pick and an Edible Arrangement off at Howie Roseman’s office, but even that might not do it. 

Look at the Rams: Matthew Stafford has a jacked-up back, and Jimmy Garoppolo is waiting in the wings. Handing the reins to Jimmy G. is a death wish, and McKee would thrive in a McVay offense… which is the problem.

If he does get traded, it would be to a team that’s probably going to give the Eagles a top-15 pick, not a team that’s ready to make a playoff push. 

If you wanted to be a downer about all of this (and you don’t want to be one), you would think about the defenses that McKee has played against. Last season, it was the lowly Cowboys and the Giants, and the preseason game was against a famously terrible Bengals squad.

I choose not to think about that; I choose to focus my energy on how beautiful his throws are and that the Eagles have the best quarterback room in the NFL. Go Birds. 

The battle for the second cornerback spot is far from over

As good as McKee was in this game, the two front-runners for the second starting cornerback spot were terrible. Kelee Ringo and Adoree’ Jackson both played until roughly halfway through the second quarter, which means they got 15 minutes of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, and a little bit of time against some depth guys. 

They were always going to have trouble covering Chase, but you would hope that they would stay competitive with him. Instead, we saw Ringo have one of the worst and most impactful reps of anyone in the entire game.

He looked like a drunk guy trying to chase a dog. That’s not what you want to look like… but also, Ja’Marr Chase makes a lot of people look like that every year. It’s tough.

This week, when the Eagles traded for cornerback Jakorian Bennett, Nick Sirianni made sure everyone knew it was purely for depth at the position. To quote the not-great Tony Romo: “Ehhhhh, I don’t know Jim.”

This story is far from over, and it’s going to get a whole lot of attention over the next few weeks. If either Ringo or Jackson has success this week in the joint practices and/or the preseason game against the Browns, just remember that their wide receivers are Jerry Jeudy and Cedric Tillman. Those two guys aren’t in the same stratosphere as Chase and Higgins.

Running back depth probably won’t be an issue

Saquon Barkley had almost 450 carries in 2024. If he can repeat that in 2025, it’d be the coolest thing ever, but if Sirianni forces that on him, it’d be a war crime. Chances are that at some point this season, Will Shipley or A.J. Dillon will get their fair share of work.

Neither of them will be a one-for-one substitution for Barkley, but based on what we saw on Thursday night… they’ll be fine. 

Shipley showed that he had some burst on a 38-yard run, while Dillon showed that not only can he play through contact (which was a question following a neck injury last season), but he also had a pretty nifty jump cut.

It wasn’t necessarily a huge sample size, but these two guys combined for 12 carries for 75 yards. That’s not too bad.

Preseason games are important for linebackers

One thing that was a little weird in this game is that Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Smael Mondon Jr. were the starting linebackers. Going into it, you would’ve thought that first-round pick Jihaad Campbell would be out there right off the bat. 

It only got weirder when Trot Jr. stayed in the game until there were 5:19 left in the third quarter, while Mondon and Campbell were both taken out of the game much earlier. Far be it from me to question Vic Fangio, so I won’t. It was just interesting. 

That being said, Mondon didn’t have a great night. Reports have said that he’s been having a good training camp so far, but he got whomped by not-very-good tight end Tanner Hudson on a catch and run for a touchdown.

Jihaad Campbell didn’t have that same problem, but he wasn’t perfect. He was sticking dudes when he made his three tackles, but there was also an interception that he probably should have come away with. 

Now, it’s super impressive that he was actually there and gave himself a chance to make that play, but ideally, he does actually walk away with the ball. It’s nothing to really worry about at this point because this was both Mondon and Campbell’s first-ever game… It’s important to remember that training camp success (where linebackers aren’t tackling to the ground) doesn’t always translate to actual football.

Nothing compares to a preseason broadcast

Ross Tucker and Scott Graham are a terrific broadcast duo, and it’s a delight to hear them call preseason games. Tucker plays a great meathead wise guy to Graham’s nerdy straight man. 

With about 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter, they brought up rookie defensive tackle Ty Robinson having a pet camel. That turned into Tucker quoting Napoleon Dynamite and Tina the Llama. 

It’s nonsense and it’s great. You’re just sitting there watching Parry Nickerson get a defensive pass interference at 10 pm on a Thursday in August, and our two guys are talking about cult classics from 2004. There’s nothing like it. Eat your heart out, Thom Brennaman.

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