Philadelphia Eagles GM Howie Roseman and RB Saquon Barkley

Getty

Philadelphia Eagles GM Howie Roseman and RB Saquon Barkley

The Philadelphia Eagles are known for making the NFL draft work for them.

General manager Howie Roseman has developed a reputation for his wizardry in flipping players and picks to acquire more picks and draft younger players (Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, Nolan Smith).

The Eagles currently have nine picks in the 2026 draft, and they could be poised to add more if they pull off a draft-day trade recently proposed by Brent Sobleski of Bleacher Report.

Eagles Could Move QB Tanner McKee for a High PickPhiladelphia Eagles QB Tanner McKeePhiladelphia Eagles QB Tanner McKee

GettyPhiladelphia Eagles QB Tanner McKee

The New York Jets desperately need a quarterback.

Geno Smith is likely no more than a one- or two-year stopgap, leaving the door open for the team to add another player to take over as the long-term starter. Sobleski believes because the Jets showed interest in acquiring Tanner McKee before, they could revisit a possible deal with the draft less than a month away.

“The Jets already inquired about trading for other options,” Sobleski wrote. “The Philadelphia Eagles’ Tanner McKee, San Francisco 49ers‘ Mac Jones and Houston Texans’ Davis Mills were discussed. At the time, each of those organizations wanted a second-round pick in return. The Jets chose not to pull the trigger.

“Considering the amount of draft capital the Jets own — four selections among this year’s top 44 — New York can get a deal done and possibly pay less than initial asking price since the quarterback has already cooled off with most teams having their top options in place.”

If the Jets were to acquire McKee, who ho’s thrown for 597 yards, 5 touchdowns and just one interception in two seasons with Philadelphia, it could throw a wrench in the back half of the first round of the draft, and possibly the second.

The Jets have been linked heavily to Alabama QB Ty Simpson, who many analysts believe the team will take with the No. 16 overall pick.

Trading for McKee could take New York out of the Simpson sweepstakes, which may prompt another QB-needy team like the Arizona Cardinals, Pittsburgh Steelers, or Cleveland Browns to either grab Simpson with their first-round picks, another team trade up for him, or Simpson could fall out of the first round entirely.

An Eagles-Jets Trade for McKee is Gaining SteamPhiladelphia Eagles QB Tanner McKeePhiladelphia Eagles QB Tanner McKee

GettyPhiladelphia Eagles QB Tanner McKee

ESPN’s Rich Cimini reported a few weeks ago that the Jets made a serious push for McKee previously balked at paying a Day 2 pick.

“They looked into trading for guys like Tanner McKee and Davis Mills and Mac Jones,” Cimini said. “Those teams were asking for second-round picks for these guys, so, exorbitant prices.”

But Cimini and Sobleski aren’t the only one who are connecting McKee to New York.

“I was looking at a couple of names (for the Jets),” NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah recently said on “The Rich Eisen Show. “I would kick the tires — I don’t know if they’d be available — for Frank Reich there I was thinking about Tanner McKee with the Eagles. Like, what would that cost? I was thinking about Davis Mills from the Texans. Those are a couple of guys that I’d be curious about taking a flier on for a year if you could trade a mid-round pick.”

“After last year’s failure at quarterback, the Jets are once again in the market for a starting signal-caller to compete with or replace Justin Fields,” Tony Pauline of Essentially Sports wrote.

“… Yet people in the league tell me if general manager Darren Mougey gets his way, the Jets will look to bring in a less-expensive signal caller, and two names keep entering the conversation: Tanner McKee and Davis Mills.”

Michael Gallagher Michael Gallagher is a sports journalist covering the NFL for Heavy.com. He has more than a decade of experience working for both local and national news outlets covering the NFL, NHL, NBA, WNBA, college football, and MMA. His work has been featured in Newsweek, Yahoo Sports, Fox Sports, Athlon Sports, The Hockey News, the Nashville Scene, SB Nation, and Yardbarker. More about Michael Gallagher

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