Eagles Could Look to Trade Quarterback, Depending on What Happens Soon

With the Philadelphia Eagles needing to decide over the next few weeks what they want to do at backup quarterback, there's a very good chance we could see somebody moved. The question for the Eagles is whether they want to trade or release a guy like Tanner McKee or Andy Dalton. 

There are benefits to keeping both players on the roster, but there's also a scenario where the Eagles don't worry about that and just keep four quarterbacks around. Right now, it doesn't seem guaranteed that Philadelphia will go in either direction, but it's a topic that keeps coming up and will until the organization makes a move.

The question for the Eagles now is whether they want to announce who won the job and move on from the other player. There's also a scenario in which the Eagles don't want to do that, as they'd have a real opportunity to get back some value from either player. 

Announcing that McKee or Dalton won the job would only lower their value, so that's something they should keep in mind. According to one writer, McKee should win the job, but no matter who does, the other player would still have value to other quarterback-needy teams around the league.

“McKee should be the QB2, even though the preseason performances don't mean much in retrospect to the Eagles. It's the complete body of work from April to August.

“Based on the last few weeks, McKee should be the job. Hard to completely rule out Dalton, even though he has been playing well. So what should the Eagles do here? The loser of the Eagles' QB2 competition will have value to another team, whether that's McKee or Dalton. McKee would have more trade value than Dalton, being that he's younger and on a rookie contract. The Eagles could get something for McKee -- if Dalton wins the QB2 job,” Jeff Kerr wrote.

It's interesting to get some value for a backup quarterback, but it's something Howie Roseman has done in the past. I have my fair share of doubts about whether he wants to do this because if Jalen Hurts were to get injured, bringing in McKee to start and having Cole Payton as his backup could raise some concerns. 

I always have my fair share of doubts about rookies coming in for a contending team like Philadelphia, but there's a good chance they'd just go out and sign a veteran if this were to happen.

Regardless, there's still stuff to figure out over the next few months, and it doesn't look like it's going to be easy.