Eagles Camp — Aug 31: McKee and Dalton Both Survive

The Eagles' initial 53-man roster has four quarterbacks on it — Jalen Hurts, Tanner McKee, Andy Dalton and rookie Cole Payton — and no announced order behind Hurts, per Olivia Reiner at the Philadelphia Inquirer. Nick Sirianni's word on the room at the announcement: "I feel good about both guys. I feel like it's a good room..." That is not a depth chart. Our last episode told you McKee had made the backup job look decided after his 16-of-22, two-touchdown night in Foxborough. Cut day says otherwise, and the finale is why.

The Eagles closed the preseason Friday, August 28, with a 30-13 loss to Cincinnati at Lincoln Financial Field — an 0-3 summer with no starters playing, per Reiner and Jeff McLane at the Inquirer. McKee started and went 12-of-22 for 55 yards with an interception and a 41.1 rating, took two sacks, and completed nothing longer than five yards to a wide receiver, per Reuben Frank at NBC Sports Philadelphia. Dalton went 12-of-19 for 104 yards and capped an 11-play, 76-yard drive — the game's best by Frank's account — with a five-yard touchdown to Carson Steele. Frank scored the competition round by round: "Round 1 was a push, Round 2 went to McKee and Round 3 goes to Dalton." Asked afterward to name a backup, Sirianni declined: "We'll have to go back and look at everything on the tape... from preseason games to practices, to joint practices, to operation practices and make our decision," per Vince Carey at the Northeast Times. The day before the game, Marcus Hayes at the Inquirer had already written the sour version — that the Eagles lack a real backup quarterback for a second straight year, that McKee "is not the answer" and that Dalton "has looked appreciably worse than McKee." The team's answer to all of it was to keep everybody and tell nobody the order, with a Week 1 date against Washington on September 13.

The cutdown's other real information was a placement that did not happen. Jonathan Greenard — the offseason's marquee edge addition, who has taken no camp practices with his pectoral injury — is on the active 53 rather than the reserve/physically-unable-to-perform list, per Glenn Erby at Eagles Wire, a designation that would have forced him to miss at least four games. Erby's read is that the placement "preserves the possibility that he can return earlier." That is a softer signal than the one we carried out of last week, when Vic Fangio said he was concerned Greenard would miss the start of the season — but whether he plays against Washington is still unanswered. The injured-reserve moves went the other way: cornerback Jakorian Bennett (knee) and tight end Grant Calcaterra (back) both went to injured reserve at the cutdown and will each miss at least the first four games, per Reiner.

The ledger's headline cut was Steele, our last episode's breakout back, who caught Dalton's touchdown in the finale and was waived two days later anyway — per the Inquirer's staff tracker, which framed him as the cutdown's proof that preseason production doesn't guarantee survival. Jimmy Kempski at PhillyVoice lists him among the logical practice-squad candidates if he goes unclaimed, but practice squads could not begin forming until waivers cleared Monday afternoon, and nothing is signed until it is. Around him: running back Dameon Pierce was released — Kempski's account is a good camp interrupted by a hamstring injury that let Will Shipley pass him — receiver Quez Watkins was cut as well, per Kempski, and 2025 sixth-round pick Myles Hinton was waived per Adam Schefter and cornerback Shaun Wade released per Jeremy Fowler, both via Zangaro's tracker. Veteran guard Michael Jordan and both International Player Pathway rushers, Joshua Weru — who had sacks in back-to-back preseason games — and Uar Bernard, went out too, per the Inquirer's tracker. Seventh-round rookies Cole Wisniewski, whose camp was marred by a hamstring injury and a concussion, and Keyshawn James-Newby were both waived, per Kerr. Earlier in the week, the team announced the release of J.T. Gray, a three-time All-Pro special teamer, and the waiver of running back Ja'Quinden Jackson with an injury designation last Monday, per the team's website. Kerr reported Jackson's waiver came with an injury settlement — a quiet end to the ambulance scare from our last episode — and read Gray's release as likely locking in Kelee Ringo's spot, since both fill the core special-teams role.

The receiver room resolved into good news and rust. Darius Cooper, the undrafted camp darling, made the 53 after what Erby called "another productive summer." Rookie Makai Lemon made his preseason debut in the finale after missing roughly three weeks with a hamstring injury and looked rusty — three catches on five targets for three yards, one target intercepted off his hands, per Reiner and McLane — though he had worked with the first-team offense at the final camp practice and stayed for extra throwing with Hurts, per Kempski. DeVonta Smith took 7-on-7 reps at that same last practice and finished with a toe-tap touchdown catch, per Kempski — his fullest visible work since returning from a two-week absence. The finale's scare was safety Andre' Sam, carted off late in the third quarter with a left leg injury after forcing a fumble and recovering two, per Reiner and McLane. And Fangio, asked about Hurts' eight camp interceptions, sounded unbothered: "It's good for the defense, which is good for the team. He's learning a new offense," per Kempski.

Back in July we previewed Philadelphia as the one team in its division whose profile pointed down — an 8-and-4 record in one-score games that history tends to claw back, a 15th-ranked offense elite only in the clutch situations that don't repeat — with Sean Mannion's under-center, motion-heavy rebuild as the counter-argument. Cut day didn't settle that argument. The rebuild finished the preseason winless without ever playing its starters, and the insurance behind Hurts is a room the team itself declined to rank. None of that moves the July question in either direction; the answers start against Washington.

What to watch next: the waiver wire clears and the practice squads form behind it — where Steele, Watkins and the rest of Sunday's names actually land is the next episode's job, and as of midday Monday no Eagles claims or practice-squad signings had been confirmed, per Martin Frank at the Delaware News Journal. Beyond that, two open Week 1 questions: whether Sirianni names a backup quarterback before the Washington game, and whether Greenard gets onto a practice field at all. We'll check back once the claims and the practice squads are in.

_Data via nflverse._