Red Rifle Time

Posted March 18th, 2026

The Eagles have one of the best starting QBs in the league in Jalen Hurts. They have one of the best backup QBs in Tanner McKee. They now have the best #3 QB. What’s my proof? Andy Dalton. That’s my proof.

This is like trading for Carson Wentz’s dad.

Joking aside, Dalton has become a solid backup in recent years. This is an impressive throw for anyone, let alone a veteran backup.

Is he overkill at #3? Fair question. This move immediately made people wonder if Tanner McKee was being traded. A couple of beat writers responded that this isn’t a move preceding a trade. That makes you wonder if that’s messaging from the team or some intel they from McKee’s agent.

You know I hate to give Jimmy Bama credit, but that actually feels like a pretty good point. For a team looking to save money, overpaying the third QB doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense.

The Eagles have a good number of picks in the upcoming draft. Unless they want to trade up. Making deals would eat up their mid-round resources. Trading McKee might bring additional mid-round resources and give Howie more freedom to be aggressive. Or the Eagles could want more picks for 2027, which is supposed to be a loaded draft.

I prefer to think this is about 2026. The more I study the class, the more guys I’m enamored with. We found out today the Eagles are bringing in Penn State OG Vega Ioane for a 30 visit. Ioane was the starting LG for the past 2.5 years and is an outstanding prospect. The question isn’t whether the Eagles should be interested, but rather would he get anywhere close to pick 23.

Some will argue that guards aren’t worth a first round pick. Quentin Nelson and Zach Martin would disagree with you. As a general rule, I get it. You don’t go for guards early. But Ioane is a special player. He’s 6-4, 320. He’s a bully, but also an athlete with really good feet. He could be the anchor for an OL for the next decade, unless he has interest in becoming a fireman (good reference for the old school crowd).

Howie Roseman loves to identify special players. He goes after them when he can. Ioane is special so paying close attention to him makes all the sense in the world. Ioane could battle Tyler Steen for the RG spot this season and then be the replacement for Landon Dickerson whenever he retires. I don’t think the Eagles are likely to end up with Ioane, but it makes for an interesting scenario.

I need to write a full post on some draft prospects of interest. This class doesn’t have many elite prospects at the top, but there are a lot of guys who could be really good fits with the Eagles. I’m getting excited.

Back to Dalton for a minute. He will turn 39 in October. He’s started 169 career games. He started one last year and five the year before that. Dalton isn’t going to carry a team on his back, but he’s fine when he’s got good players around him. If the Eagles do trade McKee, I’m fine with Dalton as a short term backup. The Eagles would then be likely to take a QB on Day 3 of the draft in April.

https://igglesblitz.com/2026/03/red-rifle-time/