Eagles reportedly will try to trade Andy Dalton before Week 1

The Eagles are a week away from their regular-season opener against the Commanders, and they still don’t have a clear answer at backup quarterback behind Jalen Hurts. Now, according to PhillyVoice’s Jimmy Kempski, the Birds may look to trade Andy Dalton to settle the situation.

Eagles QB2 battle never got resolved

The Eagles entered the offseason expecting Dalton to beat out Tanner McKee for the No. 2 job. That didn’t happen cleanly. McKee outplayed Dalton during spring practices open to the media, but the Birds still presented the two as co-QB2s in camp, with Dalton getting more second-team reps. Both quarterbacks struggled through the preseason.

Kempski described the whole situation as “bungled” in his PhillyVoice training camp recap, noting that McKee’s body of work over the summer was still better than Dalton’s, even though the results didn’t show it in playing time.

Because neither guy separated himself, the Eagles are reportedly willing to move on from whichever quarterback brings back more value, and that could now be Dalton rather than McKee, flipping the original expectation from earlier in the offseason.

Why trading Andy Dalton won’t be easy for the Eagles

Dalton has the resume: 38 years old, three Pro Bowls, 169 career starts, a career completion percentage of 62.6%, nearly 40,000 passing yards, and 254 touchdown passes against 151 interceptions. But he hasn’t started more than five games in a season since 2022 with the Saints, and his only start last year came in four appearances with a struggling Panthers team. Kempski wrote that the Eagles “will try like hell to trade Dalton,” but he’s not convinced any team is willing to give something up to get him.

For now, the Eagles have kept all four quarterbacks on the roster — Hurts, Dalton, McKee, and rookie Cole Payton — through 53-man cutdowns. Whether that changes before kickoff against Washington is still unresolved.

---