Eagles’ Nick Sirianni believes QB2 battle is in ‘good spot’ despite preseason shakiness

On Friday, the Philadelphia Eagles played their final preseason game ahead of the start of the 2026 NFL regular season on the 13th of September, when they open up their campaign against the Washington Commanders. The Eagles, however, lost convincingly to the Cincinnati Bengals, 30-13, as they finished a worrying preseason with no wins in three contests.

The Eagles have a few decisions left to make with their roster, with head coach Nick Sirianni yet to name his official backup quarterback behind Jalen Hurts. One would think that Tanner McKee would have inside track to that gig, but his performance in the preseason finale left a lot to be desired. (He completed just 12 of his 22 pass attempts, for a total of 55 yards.)

The other candidate for the backup job, Andy Dalton, wasn’t much better. But he was still far and away an improvement over McKee on Friday. But the Eagles head coach is simply trying to take all the positives he can get as he looks forward to the season ahead.

“I guess I feel good about both guys. I feel like it’s a good room. I view it as a good thing that I feel good about both those guys and your staff feels good about both those guys,” Sirianni said, via EJ Smith of PHLY Sports.

Nick Sirianni said he “feels good about both” Andy Dalton and Tanner McKee as potential backup quarterbacks.

Sirianni also said they feel good about where Cole Payton is at. #Eagles pic.twitter.com/vlzvsMtrMO

— EJ Smith (@EJSmith94) August 29, 2026

The Eagles also gave a brief runout to Cole Payton, Philly’s fifth-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. It is expected that he’ll simply be memorizing the playbook from cover to cover in 2026, and it is promising that Sirianni is feeling good about the position the 23-year-old QB is in.

McKee served as Hurts’ primary backup last season after being the third-stringer back in 2024. With Payton waiting in the wings, the Eagles will most certainly need to make a decision on who to keep between McKee and Dalton.

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