3 Philadelphia Eagles backup QB options after Taylor, Brissett signings

The Philadelphia Eagles aren’t desperate yet, but they’re close!

Hey, we know! We know! There are some football circles where A.J. McCarron can serve as a punchline to a few of your favorite jokes, but you try coming up with a list of three potential free agent targets at the quarterback position when Brissett, Taylor, Cam Newton, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Andy Dalton, and Jameis Winston are all gone.

Let’s get something straight. There isn’t a man or woman on the ITI staff that would have backed this list if we would have placed Mitchell Trubisky on it, so we didn’t. No one knows how much someone like A.J. McCarron can contribute to the development of Jalen Hurts, but if we’re being fair, we can say this.

A.J. McCarron isn’t a worse quarterback than C.J. Beathard, Nick Mullens, Colt McCoy, or Chase Daniel. McCarron may never grow into a legitimate starting quarterback in the NFL, but 1,173 passing yards, a six-to-three touchdown-to-interception tally on his resume, and a career passer rating of 86.7 prove he’s serviceable.

That’s all you can ask of a backup quarterback in an ever-evolving NFL. Plus, now that Houston has Tyrod Taylor in the fold, McCarron appears to be expendable.