The Eagles are trading a 2027 seventh-round pick to the Panthers in exchange for quarterback Andy Dalton, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Dalton, 38, served as the backup to Bryce Young in Carolina for the last three years. He started one game in 2023 but drew five starts in 2024 with the Panthers having some doubts about their former No. 1 pick. This past season, though, he started only one game with Young putting up the best numbers of his career and establishing himself as the team’s unquestioned starter heading into 2026.
The Panthers signed Kenny Pickett as Young’s new backup last week, making Dalton surplus to requirements in Carolina. The Eagles have their own backup for Jalen Hurts in 2023 sixth-round Tanner McKee, who has impressed when asked to play in the last two years. He has only made two starts with a total of 88 passing attempts in the regular season, though he graded out as one of the NFL’s best passers during the 2025 preseason, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required).
Philadelphia’s move for Dalton could mean that the team is open to trading McKee, who drew interest during roster cut-downs last summer and was mentioned as a potential trade chip this offseason. Teams seeking a young backup they could work to develop into a future starter could inquire after the Stanford product.
In that case, Dalton would take over as Hurts’ backup in the Eagles offense. Hurts has generally been healthy in his career with his absences typically coming as a result of the team locking in its playoff seeding early.
The official terms of the deal have yet to be announced, so the Panthers could be eating some of Dalton’s remaining salary to facilitate the trade. Assuming that is not the case, the Eagles will inherit the final year of the two-year, $8MM extension he signed last February. Dalton is owed $3.9MM in salary ($2MM of which is guaranteed) with a $100K workout bonus and a $4MM cap hit, per OverTheCap.
The Eagles will be Dalton’s sixth NFL team. The longtime Bengals starter enjoyed one-and-done stints with the Cowboys, Bears and Saints. The Panthers gave him a two-year, $10MM deal in 2023 to mentor a to-be-determined rookie — which became Young weeks later — and re-signed him in 2025 (two years, $8MM) despite an awkward changeover involving a car accident. Dalton suffering minor injuries in the accident led to Young’s second chance, and the diminutive QB has kept the Carolina reins since.
One season remains on McKee’s rookie contract. This marks the third straight year the Eagles have traded for a backup. They acquired Pickett from the Steelers in 2024 and made a late-summer Sam Howell acquisition in 2025. It will now be Dalton in place in the Hurts-McKee QB room, as the 16th-year quarterback is setting up to play an age-39 season.
Emergency depth
Trading Tanner
Maybe
I was listening to WIP last night and they were thinking Howie might have a deal for Tanner. I don’t think they will get a 2nd or 3rd for him but I’m only a GM in madden.
if we could get a 2nd ( I think there is > 1% chance of that). I have an easier time thinking a 3rd is possible.
Most likely means they are trading McKee.
He’ll likely be their QB1 with Hurts put on unemployment. (yes, that was a joke)
Wouldn’t be surprised if this means they trade McKee, but don’t actually do it for a while, maybe even after 2-3 rounds of the draft. Maybe a team that’s interested in Simpson (and/or maybe Nussmeier) but only willing to go so high for him will pivot to McKee if they miss out and then Philly will take a developmental flier in the draft knowing they have Dalton on hand. Or maybe a certain team has a deadline on waiting on Rodgers.
Also it’s very funny to imagine Philly running the tush push with a 39-year old Andy Dalton.
A 100 mph tail wind blowing through Lincoln Financial field is all the Red Rifle would need 🙂
Nah….If Jalen has the Hurts…And they need a Tush Push…..They will Bring in Jalen Carter….He can almost out squat Hurts…..
From May through August teams usually carry four quarterbacks for practice purposes. I think the only way the Eagles trade Tanner McKee is if they get at least a third round pick for him. Otherwise keep him through training Camp.
They are preparing for life post Hurts
With a guy who’s about to turn 39?
Don’t feed the trolls.
Don’t think this has any bearing on what they will or won’t do with Mckee. He’s simply replacing Howell.
Exactly. This move doesn’t mean *anything* regarding McKee.
I really wouldn’t be so sure about that.
Remember Sudfeld?
Tanner McKee to the……Cardinals?
Aw God damnit… This means McKee is gone, I feel like. I don’t like that Philly kept doubting him as a QB2, having felt the need to acquire Mariota, Pickett, and now Dalton to presumably be ahead of him in the depth chart.
With the exception of the Commanders game last year, he’s had good performances in every game he’s played. I wanted him to be Hurts’ long-term backup but it looks like we might part ways via trade instead of losing him in free agency next year…
Hopefully our next developmental QB draft pick doesn’t end up like Kyle McCord…
They like Mckee also which is why Dalton will be inactive most game days.
That’s a lot of assuming.
I don’t think Abs S is necessarily wrong, especially going by Howie’s past moves.
Dalton’s jersey collection is approaching Fitzpatrick levels
Hey, this is only six jerseys for Dalton. Carson Wentz has worn six jerseys over the last six seasons.
But not Josh Johnson levels… He’s even doing a cell service provider commercial about it!
In the biggest opportunity of his career, McKie sucked. Seriously, it was bad. He has no trade value.
If you’re gonna sign a dinosaur it’s either bc you think he gets it better than your currect QB (oh man), or, it’s serious competition that of course he won’t win but it should shorten the hook on the current guy; since the current guy has expressed a non-interest in doing these now-new new things in the recent past. And an entire new coaching crew is marching in (oh man).
I think it’s more of an (ill-advised and ill-executed) tactic and reminder how everyone is in competition, just not competition that will actually have a strong chance of winning, just competition nonetheless. Dumb move though but worth raising an eyebrow.
OR
The click bait is correct and the upper levels are beginning to sour on JH. Impossible you say? Well keep in mind the team had to scrap it’s original offseason plan when anyone with a resume didn’t want to touch the team with a 10 ft pole. So they did a forced pivot and went 180 the other way and hired young and new, and did a lot of it. This is pretty close to rebuild on the coaching side.
Remember Wentz was once a golden child. They were hiring artists for the team hall of fame bust. Then, (even before his decline) they got tired of him. They got tired of kill-kill. They got tired of him changing the game plan. They got tired of him deciding how the offense was gonna run just as he got to the line of scrimmage. They got tired of a Qb who was basically taking a red pen to the game plan.
They soured on him, and drafted JH.
Fast Forward to now.
If the reports are correct and have been correct, the same kinda problem exists again. Remember, “the offense is gonna run how I want it to look” (paraphrasing) coupled with JH going to the brass saying what he doesn’t wanna do; which is in essence a different version of the same thing of a QB who takes a red pen to the game plan.
Ooo the penthouse doesn’t like that
Signing Dalton isn’t the same thing as drafting Hurts. But, it is in fact in the same family. Different details of course, but the old staff soured on the old guy and did a little something about it. The new staff bringing in a dinosaur mentor is kind of a gentle slap which isn’t major but could be the last move right before they sour on someone, even a champion, who likes to wield a red pen against a former coaching staff.
Pederson won them their first Super Bowl and they soured on him real fast.
Are you starting to get this now?
Don’t think it can’t happen to JH. (especially since he takes a red pen to game plans as the former guy also did)
This penthouse sours on ANYONE real fast.
For the dumb: No, Dalton will not supplant JH at all. But, he’s not strictly a depth piece move just bc he’s cheap, either. There’s thought behind it. Quite frankly I think it’s a dumb and poor thought, but this is also believable they would do something like this especially given they didn’t just hire a new OC but also brought all his buddies in as well right after a year when the QB was taking a red pen to game plans.
Well stated. With all the infighting among the offensive players and coaches, there’s going to be a fall guy. I still think Hurts is a good QB but the last year’s offense looked like run, run, pass, punt.
That works when you have the best OL and RB in the game but not so much when they are injured. It looked like Saquon was on a pitch count last year but they didn’t open up the pass game to compensate.
Dalton was never a starting quality QB and isn’t a threat but maybe that’s the point.
There’s always been drama with this team and like you say, they move off people very quickly. I was quite shocked how quickly Foles and Pederson were shown the door after winning a Superbowl.
This is Roseman’s team now. It’s funny how Sirianni has been to two Superbowls but is never given credit.
It feels like they’re setting the table to move off Hurts if they don’t get past the divisional round. I thought they had enough talent to repeat.
Was never a starting quality QB? Lol what?
He used to be one of the better QBs in the game.
They did have enough talent to repeat. Hurts and the offense is why they didn’t.
They drafted Hurts because they thought they saw value in depth at the slot they picked him at. They soured on Wentz because he was salty about drafting Hurts, can you blame him? He needed weapons, not a backup breathing down his neck when the franchise just opened the vault and signed him to a huge deal. They don’t do that if behind the curtain people are sick of him. When he was healthy he was at an MVP level, using high draft picks to give him some weapons on offense was what Howie should’ve been focused on.
You definitely can’t blame Wentz for being salty they gave his replacement everything they never gave him and give that replacement every excuse in the world no matter how poorly he plays.
Wentz literally got hurt putting the team on his back against the Rams in a game they likely lose if he didn’t do that, and that’s how they repay him. He showed more heart on any given play than Hurts ever has. He risked his health countless times making something happen out of nothing for a team that basically made it so he had to be superman just for them to win a game.
He’s also a shell of the QB he should’ve been because he never got to develop on a team that valued him and protected him against the pass rush. He had defenders in his face on almost every play other than maybe in 2017.
It is what it is at this point but I’ll never forgive Howie for completely ruining a Superbowl winning team.
If Wentz can get healthy and with the right situation, you can’t rule out a Sam Darnold style renaissance
Unfortunately I think that ship has sailed.
I agree, sadly, and I attribute it entirely to his never getting to actually develop as a QB.
The thing everybody forgets about Darnold is he became a QB way late. He was a LB before like his junior or senior year of HS, then he played on a superteam in a conference full of notoriously weak and undisciplined defenders and basically had it on easy mode until he got to the NFL -where he was expected to be the franchise savior for a long struggling team.
That’s why a guy like Darnold finally put it all together with the right coaching. He was always gonna be a project but got drafted to a team that didn’t have the patience for that.
Exactly!
A lot of words to say nothing.
Yeah, should’ve taken the red pen to all of those manifesto.
LOL
Hard to believe the Eagles parted with trade capital for this deal. They must know something about 2026 Andy Dalton that the rest of the world does not.