Nick Sirianni, unlike rest of NFL world, sees Kenny Pickett as Eagles' QB2

No fanbase understands and appreciates the value of a backup quarterback like the Philadelphia Eagles’ fanbase. A herculean effort by Nick Foles to beat Tom Brady in Super Bowl LII cemented himself in history and showed a city what a phenomenal QB2 can do.  Hell, he has a statue outside of Lincoln Financial Field

Currently, behind Jalen Hurts, the Eagles’ quarterback room has Kenny Pickett, Tanner McKee, and Will Grier. Grier has a minuscule chance of making the team, so we can disregard him. That leaves us Pickett and McKee in a "battle" for QB2. It’s really only a "battle" to the people who have to make the ultimate decision because to literally everyone else, Tanner McKee has rightfully earned the spot.

The only opinion that actually matters on the subject, is the head coach’s. Even after two preseason games when McKee outplayed Pickett, head coach Nick Sirianni is saying that Pickett is still QB2.

Despite his lack of production in the preseason, Kenny Pickett remains the Eagles QB2

This isn’t the first time people have clamored for Tanner McKee to be the Eagles' backup. He was drafted out of Stanford in the sixth round of the 2023 Draft (188th overall). In the 2023 preseason, he shined when he had playing time, but he was the Eagles' emergency QB for the entirety of the 2023 season.

Unfortunately, he had to beat Marcus Mariota, and as a rookie, McKee was never going to beat out a veteran who’s had long-term starting experience. He finds himself in a similar situation this year. 

Almost every Steelers fan will tell you that they were in denial about Kenny Pickett. They played mental gymnastics, trying to convince themselves that the former first-round draft pick would end up popping. That never happened, and as reality set in, thousands of pillows across the country were stained by Steelers fans’ tears. 

That didn’t stop the Eagles from liking Kenny. After his completely and entirely disappointing two years in Pittsburgh, he was traded to “Quarterback Factory” on March 16, 2024, for a 2024 third-round and two 2025 seventh-round draft picks. That trade value probably has something to do with Nick Sirianni and the gang’s unwavering stance on the QB2 battle. 

Just looking at the surface-level passing numbers through two preseason games, Pickett is 25-of-35 (71.4%) for 156 yards (4.5 yards per completion) and a touchdown. At the same time, McKee is 21-of-35 (60%) for 179 yards (5.1 ypc) and no touchdowns. 

Those numbers don’t tell the whole story. In the second preseason game, Pickett had just 67 passing yards on 11 completed passes. 19 of those yards came from a screen pass to running back Will Shipley, and the ball was thrown six yards behind the line of scrimmage.

He’s having a terrible time throwing the ball downfield. He had two incompletions against the Patriots, and both of those incompletions were the only two passes that he threw 10+ yards downfield. On one of them, he overthrew wide receiver John Ross, who had his defender beat by a step of two. 

The bottom line for Pickett is that everything looks labored. You would hope that a former first-round pick would be able to diagnose a vanilla defense being played by backups and make completions look easy. That’s just not the case. Not even a little bit.

He’s holding onto the ball for far too long and paying for it. He was sacked four times by the Patriots’ defense in his limited time playing. Obviously, the sacks aren’t all on him given he is playing behind a backup offensive line, but he has a significant share of the blame.

Tanner McKee, on the other hand, has been crushing it. His completion percentage is lower than Pickett’s, but that’s not his fault. The receivers that he’s been playing with are either not catching the ball or not creating separation. 

Despite that, McKee is making completions. He’s throwing in a rhythm and he’s placing the ball where his covered receivers are the only ones who can make a play. It’s been gorgeous. You could argue that there aren't 32 other quarterbacks in the NFL who are better than him, and if you did argue that, you wouldn't sound like a complete moron.

There has to be some other factor going into the Eagles' QB2 decision aside from each player's ability to actually play the position. Maybe it's simply the fact that Howie Roseman traded for Pickett, which means there's capital sunk into his value. Maybe it’s that McKee is less mobile than Pickett, and if McKee is QB2, they’d have to scrap some of the playbook that requires a mobile QB. Maybe it’s the Brotherly Shove; it’s a staple in the Eagles’ playbook, and McKee failed an attempt at that against the Patriots.

Who knows? But Sirianni saying, “Kenny is No. 2 and Tanner is our No. 3, and I am really happy they're both on the roster,” can’t be a real decision based on real analysis from real professionals. We all see it, and most of us are dummies.