Eagles stay or go: Quarterback

Over the next few weeks, we'll be taking a position-by-position look at which players will likely be back with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2025, and which ones likely won't. Today we'll kick off the series at quarterback.

Regarding the polls below, they are your votes on what you think the Eagles should do, not necessarily what you think they will do. Please think of them more as approval polls for each player.

Jalen Hurts

Jalen Hurts probably had the easiest quarterback situation in the NFL this season. He played behind the best offensive line, handed off to the best running back, and threw to an elite pair of wide receivers. And if for some reason the offense sputtered, his team also happened to also have the No. 1 defense in the league to bail them out.

Having said that, Hurts is also a very good quarterback! Does he have his flaws? Of course. Yes, he holds onto the ball too long at times, and yes, he doesn't always throw with Peyton Manning-like anticipation, and yes, he'll ignore the middle of the field on occasion. And sometimes we get bogged down with what makes quarterbacks imperfect, and can diminish what they do well. Hurts throws a pretty deep ball, his accuracy from the pocket is wildly underrated, he almost never turns the ball over, and he is a major weapon as a runner.

There are a lot of know-nothing know-it-all analysts out there saying they'd rather have Kellen Mond (now of the San Antonio Brahmas), or calling him "spectacularly average."

In a way, Hurts was almost kind of the perfect quarterback for this roster. They could win "with him," or "because of him." During the Eagles' four-game playoff run, it was both.

#JimmyVerdict: I think the Eagles will keep the Super Bowl MVP around a while longer. Stay.

Do you want Jalen Hurts on the Eagles' 2025 roster?

Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee

We'll lump these two guys together because their futures with the team are sort of intertwined. McKee has been in Philly since 2023, when the Eagles selected him in the sixth round of the draft.

Pickett was a first-round pick of the Steelers in 2022, but after they signed Russell Wilson and traded for Justin Fields, it was clear that Pickett's days in Pittsburgh were numbered.

After the start of free agency, the Eagles made something of a surprise move when they traded a third-round pick in 2024 and a pair of seventh-round picks in 2025 for Pickett and a fourth-round pick in 2024.

Pickett relieved Hurts during the Eagles' Week 16 loss to the Washington Commanders. He did some good things, but he probably did more bad things (as shown here). After the loss, there was a lot of hand-wringing locally over what the Eagles needed to do to hide Pickett's deficiencies to beat the Cowboys.

But Pickett was much better against the Cowboys than he was in Washington. Before getting knocked out of the game with an injury to his ribs, Pickett completed 10 of 15 passes for 143 yards, 1 TD, 0 INTs, and a QB rating of 119.6. He was poised and accurate.

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After Pickett left with his injury, QB3 Tanner McKee came in and threw dimes. He finished 3/4 for 54 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, and a QB rating of 156.2. McKee has had stellar showings in each of the last two Eagles preseasons, and he was ready to play when he got his opportunity in a real game.

McKee then started in the Eagles' meaningless Week 18 game against the Giants, and picked up where he left off the previous week, completing 3 of 3 passes for 48 yards and a TD pass on the Eagles' first drive. At that point in the game, his career numbers were as follows: 6 of 7 for 102 yards, 3 TDs. McKee cooled off a bit as the game progressed, but he did enough to pick up a win in his first career start, and further solidified his chances of being a QB2 at some point.

The Eagles have two good backup quarterbacks.

Pickett has had the benefit of playing for good teams, but he now has a career 15-10 record. Pickett may not be who you want to tie your franchise to at quarterback, but you can certainly win games with him if your starter goes down.

Meanwhile, McKee has done nothing but show intriguing promise whenever he has played.

Both quarterbacks have cheap contracts. Pickett is under contract for one more season, at about $2.6 million. McKee is under contract through 2026 ($1 million cap number in 2025, $1.1 million in 2026).

#JimmyVerdict: If some team were to offer the Eagles a third-round pick for Pickett or a second-round pick for McKee, I'm sure they'd say, "Sure, done." However, since they're going to be on a quest to repeat as Super Bowl champions in 2025, they might just be content to have a little extra insurance at quarterback and keep both guys unless they're blown away with some kind of no-brainer trade offer. Stay (both of them).

Do you want Kenny Pickett on the Eagles' 2025 roster?

Do you want Tanner McKee on the Eagles' 2025 roster?

#JimmyVerdict Stay or Go Results

Green = Stay

Red = Go

Blue = Will be back in camp in 2025, but a 53-man roster spot is not a given.

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