Tanner McKee
Getty
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Tanner McKee.
If you want to know why Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman is the best in the business, here’s another example.
According to ESPN’s Rich Cimini, the New York Jets backed out of a trade for Eagles backup quarterback Tanner McKee when Roseman came back with the asking price — a 2nd round pick.
“They looked into trading for guys like Tanner McKee, Davis Mills, and Mac Jones. Those teams were asking for second-round picks for these guys,” Cimini told Gary Myers on “The Saturday Huddle” podcast. “Exorbitant prices.”
If a team wants a plug-and-play starting quarterback even for 1 season, it’s probably not exorbitant — it’s probably the market price.
It’s also a deal the Jets might come back around to this summer as the reality of having Geno Smith as their starting quarterback sets in.
Never forget Roseman is a shark, and when he smells blood in the water it’s usually curtains for the team he’s going after a trade with — and the Jets are easy prey.
Jets Have Been Circling Tanner McKee Since 2025
This isn’t the 1st time the Jets and McKee have been mentioned in a possible trade.
According to a report from Essentially Sports on February 24, the Jets have been circling McKee, a 2023 6th round pick, for some time now.
“The New York Jets are officially bargain hunting at quarterback, according to league sources,” Essentially Sports NFL reporter Tony Pauline wrote. ” … After last year’s failure at quarterback, the Jets are once again in the market for a starting signal caller to compete with or replace Justin Fields … people in the league tell me if general manager Darren Mougey gets his way, the Jets will look to bring in a less-expensive signal caller, and two names keep entering the conversation: Tanner McKee and Davis Mills.”
McKee shone in place of Super Bowl MVP quarterback Jalen Hurts when Hurts missed most of the final 3 games of the 2024 regular season with a concussion and was equally competent in starting the final regular season game in 2025.
Tanner McKee Could Trigger ‘Big Time Rebuild’
In November, The Ringer’s Sheil Kapadia thought the Eagles might have a bargaining chip in McKee with a team going through a massive rebuild. A team like the Jets, a team that owns the longest current playoff drought of any team in the 4 North American professional sports leagues at 15 seasons.
The Jets went through the fire sale before the NFL trade deadline that signaled a massive rebuild under 1st year head coach Aaron Glenn. The Jets now possess 5 1st round picks over the next 2 seasons — 2 1st rounders in 2026 and 3 1st rounders in 2027.
McKee could very well be a stopgap starter in 2026. If he shows he can handle the load moving forward, it could allow the Jets to spend those picks in other ways than drafting a quarterback.
“I was thinking a couple of things here, and one of them is Tanner McKee, because I was trying to look at backups and you say, is there a backup here (who could be a starter)?” Kapadia said on The RingerNFL Show on Thursday, November 6. “I’m a huge Tanner McKee fan. I think it could be done. They’re in line for a big time rebuild. he could be the guy.”