Why it makes sense to trade Tanner McKee, the surprising Dallas Goedert contract and why I’m glad Carson Wentz is still playing.

We’re between free agency and the draft, so it’s a fascinating time for the Eagles as Howie Roseman works to build a roster that can compete for another championship. 

With the draft now just a month away, here’s a fresh helping of Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Observations for your reading pleasure!

1. I like Tanner McKee and he clearly has some ability and with his size, intelligence and accuracy has a chance to be a quarterback in the NFL for a long time and possibly a starter at some point. That said, I would take a 4th-round draft pick for him in a New York second. McKee turns 26 next month and has started two games in his life, one going really well and one not so well. I know people want more for McKee than a 4th-round pick, and if you can get a three, great. But when we’re talking about Howie Roseman, the odds of hitting on a 3rd-round pick vs. a 4th-rounder are minimal, so I’ll take a four. And that’s the beauty of adding Andy Dalton. He’ll be the 3rd- stringer if McKee is here, but you now have the luxury of shipping McKee if you get a decent offer, and you’re not scrambling for a viable backup. McKee will be a free agent in a year anyway. May as well get something for him now if you can.

2. Is DeVonta Smith the greatest under-sized wide receiver in NFL history? He just may be. Smith’s career average of 63 yards per game is the most ever by an NFL player 170 pounds or less. Alfred Jenkins, who spent nine years with the Falcons in the 1970s and 1980s, is second at 57 yards per game and then former Lion and Viking Anthony Carter at 55 per game. DeSean Jackson was officially listed at 175, although he was probably closer to 165 or 170. If he was listed at 170 or less, he’d be second to DeVonta with 62 career yards per game. Even at that size, Smith has only missed three games in his career because of injuries. A truly unique player with remarkable toughness for such a little guy.

3. I’m glad Carson Wentz is back with the Vikings for an 11th NFL season. The dude has had so many bad breaks in his career, obviously starting with the torn ACL against the Rams in 2017, the back injury late in 2018 and the concussion in the 2019 wild-card game against the Seahawks and then becoming a true journeyman, bouncing around from the Eagles to the Colts to the Commanders to the Rams to the Chiefs to the Vikings. I just admire the guy for sticking with it through some truly dismal times, and I’m glad the Vikings are giving him a chance to stay in the league. It’s easy to forget just how good Carson was before the injury in 2017. From Week 3 through Week 14, he threw 29 touchdowns and five interceptions and the Eagles went 10-1, giving Nick Foles the opportunity to lock up the No. 1 seed and then go on a historic postseason run. Wentz was the best quarterback in the NFL before the injury and a legit MVP candidate. And without the Eagles going 11-2 under Wentz that year, there is no No. 1 seed and most likely there is no Super Bowl championship. He’s 31-38-1 in 70 starts since then but I’m glad he’s still grinding. 

4. If Brandon Graham does play this year, and it sure looks like he will, he’ll move up on a pretty interesting list of edge rushers who have had the longest careers while playing for just one team. Graham has played 215 games, all for the Eagles. The most games any edge rusher has played for just one team is 243 by Cameron Jordan of the Saints and second is Ed “Too Tall” Jones’ 224 games with the Cowboys from 1974 through 1989. If B.G. plays 17 games this year, he’ll get up to 232, trailing only Jordan. But Jordan is a free agent now after spending 15 years with the Saints, and he could be signing elsewhere soon, which would give Jones the most games played by an edge who only played with one team and leave B.G. in range of that mark.

5. The NFL is a $25 billion industry if you consider total annual revenue, and for a $25 billion industry to potentially put its product in the hands of replacement refs is inexcusable. We all saw what happened in 2012. Those guys were incompetent and the game became a mockery. The refs and the league have to figure this thing out, get a contract hammered out and make sure we don’t get to the point where crucial calls in huge games are in the hands of fake refs. Can’t happen. 

6. Jalen Hurts Stat of the Week: Hurts is one of only nine quarterbacks to throw an interception less than once every 55 pass attempts and a touchdown more than once every 20 pass attempts in his career. The others are Lamar Jackson, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Tom Brady, Dak Prescott and Justin Herbert. 

7. If Jaylen Waddle is worth a 1st-round pick and a 3rd-round pick, then A.J. Brown is definitely worth at least a one and a two. Brown is better than Waddle any way you measure it: Yards per game (77-65), yards per catch (15.3 to 13.5), yards per season (1,147 to 1,008) touchdowns (56 to 26), 1,000-yard seasons (6 in 7 years, 3 in 5 years), Pro Bowls (3 to 0), all-pro picks (3 to 0) and championships (1 to 0). Brown is older but only by about a year and a half. Waddle is a nice player, but if he’s worth the return the Dolphins got Howie Roseman has been totally justified in asking for a 1st-round pick and a 2nd-round pick at a minimum for A.J. 

8. The Eagles have now added eight outside free agents – Riq Woolen, Hollywood Brown, Arnold Ebiketie, Johnny Mundt, Dameon Pierce, Stone Smartt, Jonathan Jones and J.T. Gray. All one-year contracts and real money only to Woolen. These are trademark Howie Roseman second-week-of-free agency additions. No risk, no huge guaranteed money, no lock any of them will make the team. Howie has mastered the art of waiting for the 31 other teams to over-pay for guys the first few days of free agency and then bottom feed. Now, Woolen is a roster lock and Brown is close, but the others have to go to training camp and prove they can play. They were all available for a reason and we’ve seen so many veteran guys over the years arrive at training camp and prove pretty quickly they don’t belong. Ebiketie has to prove he can generate consistent pass pressure, Mundt has to prove it’s worth it for the Eagles to spend a roster spot on a blocking tight end. Pierce has to prove he still has some juice. Smartt has to prove there’s a reason to keep a 230-pound tight end who has 38 catches in four seasons. And Jones has to prove he’s an upgrade over Kelee Ringo, Jakorian Bennett and possibly Adoree Jackson as a backup corner. But these are all good signings because the Eagles have nothing to lose. If any of them work out, you get a functional player at a low price. If they don’t, no huge cap hit or dead money. Ideally, Roseman wants to build through the draft, but these cheap-o one-year deals definitely have their place.

9. I’m still shocked Dallas Goedert didn’t get any decent offers on the open market and was forced to take a big paycut from $10 million last year to $7 million this year. Goedert is now the 22nd-highest-paid tight end in the league behind guys like Charlie Kolar (30 catches in four years), Josh Oliver (85 catches in seven years) and Colby Parkinson (130 catches in six years). Goedert was 10th in catches last year and since 2019 ranks fifth among all tight ends in yards, eighth in catches and fifth in touchdowns. And he scored an NFL-best 13 TDs last year. He’s a top-10 tight end getting paid like a top-25 tight end. And he just turned 31 but he stayed healthy last year and tight ends can clearly play at a high level into their mid-30s. The Eagles are lucky as heck the market never developed for Goedert and Howie was able to bring him back for a ninth season. But I don’t understand why the rest of the league valued him so lightly. Doesn’t make sense.

10A. I can’t let Boston Scott’s retirement pass without commenting on one of my favorite Eagles ever. First of all, Scott was hilarious. He had this Mr. Security Guard routine that he used to do at training camp that was amazing. We’ve all encountered security guards with delusions of self-importance, and Boston had all the mannerisms and facial expressions down. He would stand at the podium with his arms folded and his shades on while one of his teammates was doing an interview and go through this whole routine of pretending to protect him from some unseen threat. Sounds weird, I know, but it was hilarious. The other thing about Boston Scott is that he was always a good little back and don’t forgot Howie stole him from the Saints’ practice squad in 2018, and he went on to rush for 1,295 yards and catch 71 passes for the Eagles from 2019 through 2023. And his 34-yard TD run in the 2021 playoff loss in Tampa was pretty much the Eagles’ only decent offensive play in that game. Obviously, he was ridiculous vs. the Giants throughout his career, but overall he had a 4.4 rushing average, 7th-highest by a RB in Eagles history (minimum 300 carries). This is a dude who is 5-6. Only four players in NFL history 5-6 or shorter had more rushing yards than Boston Scott (including former teammate Darren Sproles, who the Eagles also stole from the Saints). I always felt like Boston was a great example of a guy who didn’t have ideal size and was told a million times he was too short to play in the NFL but didn’t listen and kept grinding and carved out a nice six-year career. And finally, I’ll always remember Scott as the only player Carson Wentz completed a postseason pass to. So far. 

10B. Here’s a look at the most rushing yards in NFL history by players 5-6 or shorter: Darren Sproles (3,850), Charley Tolar (3,387), Buddy Young (2,807), Jacquizz Rodgers (2,163), and Scott (1,415). Tolar played for the Oilers in the 1960s, Rodgers with the Falcons, Bears and Bucs from 2011 through 2018 and Young with the Yankees and Colts in the 1940s and 1950s. 

11. The Sydney Brown trade got me thinking about Howie Roseman’s body of work with 3rd-round picks. He’s had 13, ranging from a Super Bowl MVP to an edge rusher who played six games here. Let’s rank his 13 3rd-round picks (and remember, Jordan Hicks in 2015 was a Chip Kelly pick during Howie’s year of exile): 1. Nick Foles, 2. Milton Williams, 3. Isaac Seumalo, 4. Nakobe Dean, 5. Jalyx Hunt, 6. Rasul Douglas, 7. Tyler Steen, 8. Bennie Logan, 9. Sydney Brown, 10. Josh Huff, 11. Davion Taylor, 12. Curtis Marsh, 13. Daniel Te’o Nesheim,