When Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts comes to the sideline to talk to offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, Kenny Pickett, and Tanner McKee will be right by him, listening in on Moore explaining to Hurts what to expect from opposing defenses. There is no quarterback controversy brewing now or in the future involving Hurts and Pickett. Instead, it goes back to how the Eagles want depth at the position in case of an injury.
General manager Howie Roseman spoke to a group of reporters Monday at the Annual League Meeting being held at the Ritz-Carlton & JW Marriott Grande Lakes in Orlando, Fla. Roseman said that Hurts was kept in the loop about the trade for Pickett and that Even with giving up a significant draft asset to get Pickett (a 2024 third-round pick), Roseman said that Hurts was kept in the loop about the trade for Pickett and that it does not have an impact on Hurts’ standing on the roster or the future of the team.
“Jalen is our franchise quarterback,” Roseman said. “I don’t think that there is anything that affects Jalen in terms of who we bring in at the quarterback position. We have tremendous faith and trust in him, and we communicate with him about anything we’re doing, just as we like to do with a bunch of our players to give a heads-up so he can welcome them to the team.”
According to Roseman, the backup quarterback’s importance is an organizational philosophy that extends to owner Jeffrey Lurie. Roseman says he believes no other team likes to invest as much in the position as the Eagles do. Although the Eagles added Pickett to the quarterback room, Roseman said the team is still very high on 2023 sixth-round pick Tanner McKee. McKee completed 39 of his 72 passing attempts for 453 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions.
“I think Tanner had a phenomenal preseason who is a very talented guy,” Roseman said. “Kenny’s a talented guy that, obviously, like all quarterbacks, including the ones in this draft, we do work on because you never know when you have the opportunity to get those guys and to continue to build depth throughout our roster with talented guys at maybe the most important position in sports. We felt like it made sense.”
Hurts’ ability to run the ball adds a wrinkle to the Eagle’ss offense, forcing defenses to account for the possibility that he is keeping it and, at times, forces a spy to follow him and open up more room for other players. Despite the offense being tailored to his strengths, Roseman said that the offense is fluid enough to adapt to whoever is behind center, including Pickett, who has averaged 3.0 yards per game in his career (291 yards on 91 rushes)
“We feel that based on our coaching staff and the players that we have, that we can dictate our offense based on a player’s skill set. Tanner did not have the same skill set as Jalen or Marcus last year, and we drafted Tanner because we think Tanner is a good player at an important position, which is the same for Kenny.”
