Maybe it’s just Nick Sirianni being typically vague. Competitive advantage and all that.
Or maybe it’s more than that.
Sirianni on Wednesday declined to say that Andy Dalton, who threw a damaging interception Monday night in Chicago, will remain the Eagles’ back-up quarterback.
Dalton, a 38-year-old 16-year veteran, beat out Tanner McKee for the Eagles’ No. 2 quarterback job after the two battled throughout training camp.
On Monday night in Chicago, Dalton was forced to replace Jalen Hurts late in the second quarter when the NFL’s independent neurologist summoned Hurts into the blue injury tent to be tested for a concussion after a brutal sideline hit by Bears linebacker D’Marco Jackson.
With the Bears leading 7-0, Dalton entered the game for his first action in an Eagles uniform. His first snap was a 14-yard Saquon Barkley run down to the 1-yard-line. Two more Barkley runs left the Eagles with a 3rd-and-goal on the 2-yard-line, and that’s when Dalton got picked off by Bears rookie safety Dillon Thieneman in the end zone.
Hurts was cleared to return right after that, and the interception wound up being Dalton’s only pass of the game. He became the first Eagles quarterback to throw an interception on his only pass attempt of a game since Vince Young in 2011. The Bears turned the takeaway into a field goal and wound up winning 27-7.
Sirianni, asked specifically if Dalton would remain the backup, did not provide a specific yes or no.
“Obviously, you know, what happened in the game, we don’t want turnovers by anybody,” he said. “And, you know, that play, whether it was that one, whether it was Jalen’s interception, whether it was Tank (Bigsby’s) fumble, that has not been our winning formula. And so we cannot, we can’t turn the ball over. And we did in a situation and lost points from it.
“But I still have faith in that entire (room), with Tanner, I still have faith in Andy, I still like the way that Cole (rookie Cole Payton) is developing and so yeah I still love that room.
When it was pointed out a moment later that he hadn’t answered the question and was asked directly if McKee would be No. 2 moving forward, Sirianni responded: “Like I said, I answered it how I wanted to. I got a lot of faith in everybody in that room.”
Dalton was a three-time Pro Bowler early in his career with the Bengals, but he’s just 34-55-1 in 90 starts since 2016 and the Eagles are his sixth team since 2019. His 85.4 passer rating over the past 10 years is 9th-worst among 54 quarterbacks who’ve thrown at least 1,000 passes during that span.
McKee, the Eagles’ 6th-round pick in 2023, was the Eagles’ 3rd-stringer as a rookie behind Hurts and Marcus Mariota and in 2024 behind Kenny Pickett. He was No. 2 last year. He’s 1-1 in two career starts and in six games has five touchdowns and one interception for a 99.5 passer rating.