Kyle McCord, Dorian Thompson-Robinson were so bad Howie Roseman had to find a QB

If all goes well, the Eagles will never have to use their No. 3 quarterback, but if they do? They're much more prepared after acquiring Sam Howell.

By Reuben Frank • Published August 24, 2025

They saw what we saw. They watched what we watched. They knew what we knew. It wasn’t good enough.

Not even close.

There was never any chance the Eagles were going to go into 2025 with Kyle McCord or Dorian Thompson-Robinson having even the remotest chance of throwing a meaningful pass in the regular season.

Not after the way the last few weeks went.

There was a point where going out and getting a quarterback didn’t seem necessary. Thompson-Robinson, acquired in the Kenny Pickett trade, had a couple good weeks of practice after a slow start, and McCord was doing enough positive things here and there that you thought maybe there was a chance he could grow into a legit No. 3 by the end of training camp.

The idea was Jalen Hurts as the starter, Tanner McKee as one of the best backups in the league, McCord as the developmental rookie and maybe DTR on the practice squad.

Then a few things happened. McCord and DTR began regressing and both were terrible in the preseason games. And on Aug. 18 McKee hurt his hand. 

You would sit there and try to make it work in your head, but it never did. 

We don’t know when McKee will be 100 percent, but the thought of the Eagles going into the season opener against the Cowboys with an injured No. 2 and an inept No. 3 was terrifying. For any team but especially one out to win a Super Bowl.

And then Howie Roseman did Howie Roseman things.

And if you’ve ever wondered why Howie spends draft weekend stockpiling draft picks, this is why. The more picks you have, the more flexibility you have. Howie doesn’t see draft picks as potential players to draft, he sees them as assets to turn into other assets. Chips to create value.  

For example: On April 27, 2024, Roseman made five separate trades that didn’t involve players. In all he traded six picks and got nine back. His specialty is unloading current picks to bad teams desperate for players in exchange for future picks in earlier rounds. So he creates value where none existed.

And then when there’s a need – whether it’s A.J. Brown or C.J. Gardner-Johnson in 2022 or D’Andre Swift in 2023 or Jahan Dotson last year or Sam Howell on Sunday – he’s always able to pounce.

There are a lot of ways to make the roster better. Draft, free agency, trades. And Howie's got them all mastered.

Nobody is under any illusions that Howell is a star. He’s not. 

He was 4-13 with the Commanders in 2023, his only season as a starter, and he led the NFL with 21 interceptions and 65 sacks. He remains the only quarterback in NFL history to throw 21 interceptions and get sacked 65 times in a season.

But he’s a heck of a lot better than what we saw from McCord and Thompson-Robinson, who simply are not NFL-caliber quarterbacks. At least not now. It’s not that you wouldn’t want to put them in a regular-season game. You just can’t put them in a regular-season game.

Howell had some very good games in 2023. In two starts against the Eagles, he completed 73 percent of his passes for 687 yards with five touchdown passes and one interception – Reed Blankenship got him – for a 107.2 passer rating. 

He’s actually got the 2nd-highest completion percentage ever against the Eagles (behind Kyler Murray) and the 8th-highest passer rating (behind guys like Joe Montana, Bart Starr and Peyton Manning). Howell is one of only six quarterbacks in history to complete 70 percent of his passes against the Eagles twice in a season and the first Washington QB to do it since Hall of Famer Sammy Baugh in 1945.

The best way to get on Roseman’s radar is to play well against the Eagles, and Howell did that twice in the span of five weeks two years ago.

If all goes well, Hurts will be healthy, McKee will heal quickly and Howell will never take a meaningful snap in an Eagles uniform. That’s the most likely scenario.

But you really do never know. Crazy things happen in this game. Quarterbacks do get hurt. And the Eagles have had to use their No. 3 several times over the years – A.J. Feeley in 2001, Koy Detmer in 2002, Mike McMahon God help us all in 2005, Kevin Kolb in 2009, Mike Kafka in 2011, Matt Barkley in 2013, McKee last year.

If it happens this year? The Eagles are much more prepared for it than they were 24 hours ago.

This wasn’t a move Roseman wanted to make. It was a move he had to make.

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/howie-roseman-kyle-mccord-dorian-thompson-robinson-sam-howell/680566/

McCord should go to PS and if he doesn't improve during the year then a different QB will be brought in for the PS...I think he'll settle down

but he was not planting his feet at all and rushed far to much.

DTR is awful and should be on a HS Football Team. McCord needs to be on a PS for like 2 or 3 years, before he ever should see live NFL game action.

Decent move here, Howie.