January 04, 2026
The Philadelphia Eagles' backups (and a few scattered starters) played a football game against the Washington Commanders on Sunday. The Eagles lost. As always, win, lose, or tie, we hand out 10 awards.
The following Eagles offensive starters didn't play:
The following defensive starters didn't play:
Assuming Lane Johnson is ready to go next week, the Eagles should have all 11 starters on offense for the playoffs.
Assuming Nakobe Dean recovers in time as well, they'll have 10 of 11 starters on defense for the playoffs, plus all of their notable defensive role players. The only player they'll likely be without is rookie S Andrew Mukuba.
Giving some time off to highly important, but banged-up players like Jalen Carter, Landon Dickerson, and Cam Jurgens could be particularly helpful.
The Eagles will enter the playoffs as one of the healthiest teams in the NFL.
Anytime that McKee has gotten chances to play throughout his three-year career, he has looked good. He's prepared, he clearly knows the offense, he throws with anticipation, and he has been an accurate passer.
On Sunday against the Commanders, he had a disappointing performance. His first big mistake was a bad INT in the red zone:
He also missed an open Kylen Granson on 4th and 3 late in the fourth quarter, and on the final Eagles possession he threw a ball out of bounds on fourth down.
McKee got some attention on the trade market during the 2025 offseason, but not enough to entice the Eagles to trade him away. McKee will be a free agent during the 2027 offseason, so trading him during the 2026 offseason might've made sense, if some team out there is willing to pony up a high enough draft pick.
Another strong performance on Sunday could've helped raise his value, but that did not happen.
Of course, McKee did have to deal with a rookie sixth-round RT just off of IR trying to block a Hall of Famer all day, and he was throwing to backups, so it's not as if this was going to be an easy game for him.
McKee can still be a good player, and possibly a starter for another team at some point. It would be silly to make any grand statements about his career based on one game playing with second and third stingers.
That said, expect McKee to be the Eagles' QB2 in 2026, because nobody is offering a high pick for him this offseason.
The one part of the game when McKee looked good was when DeVonta Smith was playing.
Smith caught 3 passes for 52 yards in the first quarter, going over 1,000 yards on the season. The Eagles then promptly got him off the field for the rest of the day.
With his 52 yards, Smith also passed A.J. Brown in receiving yards on the season:
• DeVonta Smith 1008
• A.J. Brown: 1003
Brown was spotted putting his uniform on and begging Nick Sirianni to put him in the game.
OK, that last part didn't happen.
Hunt had his third INT of the season when he stepped in front of an uninterested Deebo Samuel. He also recovered a fumble on a bad Commanders snap.
Hunt's last 11 games: 38 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 19 QB hits, 3 INTs (one pick-six), 1 FF, 1 FR. He might be more of a re-signing priority than Nolan Smith.
Bigsby had 16 carries for 75 yards and a TD, despite rarely having any room to run. He consistently gets yards after contact, and finds yards that aren't blocked up.
Watching the Seahawks-49ers game on Saturday night, it was fun watching the Seahawks use their one-two punch of Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet to bludgeon the Niners on the ground.
The Eagles don't have to spilt Bigsby's snaps evenly with Saquon Barkley, obviously, but it makes sense for them to give Bigsby 5-10 carries per game, (a) because he produces whenever he plays, and (b) he can help Barkley be more effective by keeping him fresh throughout the game.
It was a tough evening for Kelee Ringo and Jakorian Bennett, who both had a tough day in the secondary. Bennett had two pass interference calls go against him, while Ringo and Mac McWilliams each had one.
But the most memorable play of this game, in my opinion, was when Ringo oddly turned his back on a scrambling Josh Johnson, allowing Johnson to walk in for the easiest touchdown of his life.
I mean, lol.
Adoree' Jackson is basically Deion Sanders compared to these guys.
Taunting penalties suck, but also, if you spin the ball on a defender while he's on the ground after you've just made a catch on him, you're going to get called for taunting 100 percent of the time.
The Eagles would've had a 1st and Goal, but instead that penalty pushed them back 15 yards, and McKee's INT followed.
The Eagles would have been the 2 seed with a win and a Bears loss to the Lions. The Lions came through for the Eagles, beating the Bears 19-16. But, you know, the Eagles lost.
During the week, we laid out the pros and cons of playing starters vs. sitting them, and in my opinion, the clear choice was to sit them.
However, because the Bears lost and the Eagles were unable to capitalize, Sirianni is going to be second guessed for his decision. Sirianni is certainly deserving of criticism for plenty of reasons, but resting starters is not one of them, in my opinion. This outcome was always a possibility, but even with the missed opportunity there's a decent argument to be made that the rest was still more important.
The Eagles will face the 49ers in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs. The last time the Eagles faced the Niners in the playoffs, they knocked out their two quarterbacks and won 31-7 in the NFC Championship Game, leaving Kyle Shanahan and his players to proclaim that they would have won, you know, if they hadn't gotten their quarterback killed.
Many of the same main characters remain from that Niners team, and there will no doubt be some bad blood on the field next weekend.
The Eagles' new season begins now.
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