The Eagles added a developmental quarterback in the sixth round Saturday, Stanford’s Tanner McKee.
McKee was pick No. 188 overall, a pick the Eagles acquired from the Texans Friday as part of the compensation for sending the Texans No. 62 in exchange for No. 66.
McKee stands 6-foot-6, 230 pounds, and was a two-year starter in Palo Alto, completing 63.4 percent of his passes for 5,274 yards with 28 touchdown passes and 15 interceptions.
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He’s clearly a raw project that needs a lot of work, but he has some tools for new Eagles quarterback coach Alex Tanney – a long-time NFL backup – to work with.
“The NFL is a really fast game, so being able to drive the ball off your back foot or with a little bit of movement and being able to put it right on the money (is important),” McKee said in a recent interview with the Deseret News of Salt Lake City.
“Everybody in the NFL is a little bit faster, a little bit bigger and a little bit taller. I’m excited that I’ll have to anticipate things a little bit more and elevate my game.”
McKee turned 23 on Thursday, so he’s older than most rookies. He served a two-year mission in Brazil after finishing high school in Southern California. He’s not a mobile quarterback or a great athlete – he had minus-90 rushing yards last year (NCAA includes sack yards in rushing totals) – but he’s got a live arm, good accuracy and great size at 6-foot-6, 230 pounds.
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He’s certainly a long-term project and a developmental quarterback, but when you’re picking in the sixth round and you just gave your starting quarterback a quarter of a billion dollars, there’s certainly value in finding a late-round project to try and develop.
Tanner said during the pre-draft process he had no idea where he was going to be drafted.
“I have no idea,” he told the Deseret News. “There are so many opinions from a lot of different people and they vary so much. I know that at some point my name will get called. I’m excited to control what I can and go out and perform to the best of my ability. The only thing I’m worried about is having a shot.
“Wherever I go, I’m excited to go out and display what I can do on the field, in the locker room and being a teammate and a leader. Honestly, I have no idea when or where I’m going to go. But I’m very excited to take advantage of whatever opportunity comes.”
The Eagles signed veteran Marcus Mariota last month to back up Jalen Hurts. The only other quarterback on the roster is former Notre Dame star Ian Book, who was No. 3 last year behind Hurts and Gardner Minshew.
McKee is the seventh quarterback Howie Roseman has drafted. Three have contributed to Super Bowl teams – Nick Foles (third round in 2012), Carson Wentz (first round in 2016) and Hurts (second round in 2020). The others are Mike Kafka (fourth round in 2010), Matt Barkley (fourth round in 2013) and Clayton Thorson (fifth round in 2019).
Hall and Thorson are the only quarterbacks the Eagles have drafted in the last 25 years that never got into an NFL game.
McKee is the first quarterback the Eagles have taken this late in a draft since Delaware’s Andy Hall, a 6th-round pick and No. 185 overall in 2004.
The last Stanford QB the Eagles drafted was Mike Cordova in the 11th round in 1977. He never played in the NFL.
Roseman has drafted five players out of Stanford since he became G.M. in 2010: Zach Ertz in the second round in 2013, safety Ed Reynolds in the fifth round in 2014, receiver J.J. Arcega-Whiteside in the second round in 2019 and edge Casey Toohill in the seventh round in 2020.