Skip to Search Skip to Live Player Skip to Content Skip to Footer

Eagles Select Stanford QB Tanner McKee with Pick 188

Placeholder Shilloutte User Image
Author and Dylan MacKinnon
Tanner McKee will fight for a spot on the 2023 Philadelphia Eagles.

With pick number 188, the Eagled selected Stanford QB Tanner McKee. Shortly afterward, they traded pick 191 to Tampa Bay for a 2024 5th-round pick. So they won’t be on the clock again until later in the 7th round.

Tanner McKee spent all 3 of his college seasons at Stanford but only started for two of them. Last year he gained 2,947 yards through the air with 13 TD passes. Underwhelming numbers. But the important context is the team as a whole was not very good, and he was under almost constant pressure from opposing defensive lines.

Physically, he is like the anti-Jalen Hurts. He is very big, 6ft6 and 231lbs. But he is also slow and does not move well in the pocket. But what standouts out is his arm. When given a clean pocket, he showed the ability to sling it to almost anywhere on the field. Very much like Carson Strong from last year, who also ended up in Eagles camp. But unlike Strong, McKee has no medical red flags coming into the draft. So he stands a better chance to stick around the team.

Tanner McKee joins a QB room already including Hurts, who obviously isn’t going to be supplanted as the starter, and Marcus Mariota. Its doubtful he sees anytime as a starter this year, provided he makes the team. If Hurts were to miss anytime, Mariota would be the obvious fill-in. Not just because he has NFL experience and has won games at that level, but because he is a much more natural fit in the Eagles scheme. Whereas McKee trying to run a Jalen Hurts offense would not be very pretty.

But he could beat out Ian Book to be the 3rd Qb on the roster. The Eagles clearly didn’t trust Book enough to back up Hurts, since they brought Mariota in.

7 Players The Eagles Could Target On Day 3 Of The Draft

You could say Days 1 and 2 went pretty well for the Eagles. In the first round, they landed Jalen Carter and his College teammate Nolan Smith. Two guys who were projected to possibly be top 10 picks. They followed that up the next day by making two 3rd-round picks in a row. First Tyler Steen, an Offensive Lineman from Alabama expected to compete for the RG job. Then, Sydney Brown, a hard-hitting Safety, who was the leader of one of the best defenses in the nation at Illinois. No, we wait to see what they will do on day 3.

The downside, it will take a while for them to be on the clock in day 3. They came into the draft with just two 7th-round picks on this day. They added another 7th, and a 6th, trading down from their 2nd-round pick. But still, they don’t pick until 188. Day 3 starts with the Bears and pick 103. So 85 selections have to be made until they are up with the 11th pick in the 6th round.

But even with those late picks, the Eagles have occasionally struck gold. Jason Kelce was a 6th-round pick. Jordan Mailata a 7th-round pick. Two Super Bowl contributors, Beau Allen, and Jalen Mills, were 7th-round picks. Even if it’s not a star like Kelce or Mialata, you can at the least find solid role players like Allen.

So what players could they be looking at in the 6th and 7th round? We obviously don’t know who will be there. But based on draft grades, we can guess that these are names that could still be available when the Eagles are finally on the clock today.

  • RB Chase Brown- Illinois

    The Eagles already drafted Sydney, why not grab his twin brother as well? At Illinois Brown was 4th in the league in rushing yards with 1,643, to go with 10 TDS this postseason. He also added 240 yards and 3 TDs through the air. The knocks on him that have him falling to day 3 are that his game lacks finesse, and he can be a bit too patient waiting for holes to open as opposed to just hitting the holes that are there.

    The grade on him ranges from anywhere from the 4th round, to the 6th. So he could be there when the Eagles pick, but could also be long gone. If he is there though, he would be an interesting option. Brown has good speed, was productive, and could bring some power 3rd down game to an RB room that could maybe use it to round out their RB rotation. Plus it would continue a cool story of Sydney and Chase defying odds together to go from tough beginnings living in poverty in Canada to being NFL players.

  • RB- Kenny McIntosh- Georgia

    The Eagles’ defense is now stacked with Georgia players, why not add some Dawg to the offense? McIntosh is coming off a pretty productive year. 829 yards, 12 total TDs, and 504 receiving yards. He also has experience as a return man, and we know the Eagles need help there.

    Some have the Georgia back going in round 4. But many others have him falling all the way to the 6th round. As with many of the players we will talk about today, it is tough to know if he will be there or not. But he would be an interesting option if he makes it to 188. For many teams, the low volume he had in college will be a knock on him. But for the Eagles, it should be a plus. He won’t be a high-volume player here either. Knowing a guy can be productive despite limited touches lets you know he can be a good part of an RB rotation. Plus, it means less wear and tear on his body.

    McIntosh has great hands, with 0 drops in college. He is a solid pass protector. He won’t be a star perhaps. But the Eagles aren’t looking for a star at RB. They need a guy who can help. Kenny fits that bill.

  • WR- Kayshon Boutte- LSU

    Kayshon Boutte was once seen as the next great LSU WR after Jamar Chase. Despite a few flashes, he never reached those heights. He went from looking like a Day 1 pick a couple of years ago, to now being a Day 3 pick. He gained just 538 yards last season, to go with 2 TDs. But love the prior two seasons he had a combined 1,234 yards and 14 TDs. And the traits that had people excited are still there.

    Boutte like Brown could go anywhere on day 3. A team in the 4th round could be enamored by his potential. After all, he did once have a game where he set the SEC record for yards in a single game. But teams could also be put off by him regressing every year, and his issues with drops, and he could fall all the way to the 6th round. Boutte is a lottery ticket. He could be a great player, but he also could be a bust. The Eagles have shown in the past they like those dice roll picks late in the draft. So if Boutte does fall, he could be an option.

     

  • P- Adam Korsack- Rutgers

    Punters matter too. And Eagles badly need an improvement at punter. Arryn Sippos ranks near the bottom of the league in every single metric you measure a punter by. He doesn’t have a big leg. Nor does he have finesse on shorter punts. It’s one of the few things the Eagles do poorly. Granted they don’t punt much. But when they do, we should want them to be better at it.

    Enter Korsack. The guy is all finesse. he went 150 straight punts without a touchback. The Ray Guy Award winner has the most punting yards in NCAA History. He set the record in College for Net Punting Yards. And because of how much hang time his punts have, teams were in the negative in return yards against him this past season. He can also boot it when he has to. In 3 of his 5 seasons at Rutgers, he has 3 punts of 70 yards or more.

    He does all this with an unusual, but successful approach to punting. His goal is not to kick it as far as possible. He want to make sure there is no chance for a return. As he told the New York Post before the draft.

    “If I hit a ball and it just out-kicks the coverage, you might get 5 yards on the return. Then the next one we might drop you for -1 yards, then the next one you get a fair catch, then 11 yards. Eventually, it’s going to spit out for a touchdown because those returners are so dynamic. I don’t want to play that game. It’s essentially Russian Roulette.”

  • TE- Will Mallory- Miami

    The goal in the 7th round should be finding high-upside guys. Taht could be Will Mallory. He is athletic and was productive on a Miami team where most of the other guys seemed to regress.  He had 42 catches for 538 yards and TDs for the Canes this year. And if you look at his career there, he got a little bit better every year.

    He was also a very dependable weapon for them on 3rd down. He converted 11 3rd downs this past season and averaged 16.7 yards per catch on those 3rd downs.

  • LB- Ivan Pace Jr.- Cincinnati

    Ivan Pace Jr is an interesting prospect. At only 5ft11, he does not look like a linebacker. But on the field, he plays like one. Pace was all over the field from the Bearcats, racking up 9 sacks, 2 forced fumbles 136 total tackles, including 20 that went for a loss. He spent his first few years at Miami of Ohio, before transferring to Cincy. At Cincy, he was named an All-American.

    Being an undersized Linebacker from a Non-Power 5 school is a reason why he could be there in the 6th round despite the production. But the Eagles benefited from a Bearcat falling to the 6th round before because he was undersized for his position. Not saying he is another Jason Kelce. It’s just to say Cincy has generated NFL talent before. And if his being a bit undersized lets him fall, the Eagles could land someone who puts up numbers and has a motor that never stops.

  • WR- Bryce Ford-Wheaton- West Virginia

    6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, a 4.38 40, with decent production in College. He racked up 675 yards and 7 TDs for the Mountaineers this past season. He’s big and fast. Two good attributes for a WR. 

    The downside is he doesn’t always put it all to use in-game. He is more than willing to go up and get the ball. Plus is more than capable of doing so with good hands and a long wingspan. But despite the blazing speed, scouts say he struggles to create separation. He will need to learn to run routes better. But is a high-upside guy who could fall into the late rounds.

 

Tyrone Johnson is the host of “The Best Show Ever” on 97.5 The Fanatic. He has been with the station for the past 8 years. Before working at the Fanatic, Tyrone produced political radio, did financial reports, and was assistant chief engineer of another radio station. As a content creator for 97.5 The Fanatic, Tyrone writes articles on the Sixers, Eagles, Phillies, and Flyers.

Sign me up for the 97.5 The Fanatic email newsletter!

Become a Fanatic MVP to get the latest info on the Philly Sports landscape, plus access to exclusive content and member-only contests.

*
*
By clicking "Subscribe" I agree to the website's terms of Service and Privacy Policy. I understand I can unsubscribe at any time.
Placeholder Shilloutte User Image
Author and Dylan MacKinnon
Category:
Tags:
,,,

More 97.5 The Fanatic

Load More