The Philadelphia Eagles may be down to their third-string quarterback in Sunday’s regular-season finale against the New York Giants.
Luckily, the Eagles have locked up the NFC East, but should they worry?
What Is Kenny Pickett’s Injury?
Update: Tanner McKee will be starting for the Philadelphia Eagles this week after Pickett’s injury.
Kenny Pickett suffered a rib injury during the Eagles’ Week 16 game against the Washington Commanders. However, he was able to play through it and started Week 17 against the Dallas Cowboys.
But during the third quarter, Pickett took a big hit from hit from Cowboys LB Micah Parsons while delivering an apparent touchdown pass to Eagles WR A.J. Brown for an apparent touchdown pass. A holding call took the points off the board, and Pickett had to exit the game due to his reaggravated rib injury.
Pickett would not return, with third-string quarterback Tanner McKee replacing him.
Pro Football Talk reported that Pickett wasn’t just dealing with bruised ribs — he had played with broken ribs. He received two injections, one before the game and the other at halftime to ease the pain. Pickett was starting in place of the injured Jalen Hurts, who suffered a concussion against the Commanders in Week 16.
Prior to exiting the game, Pickett had played well against the Cowboys, completing 10 of 15 passes for 143 yards, with one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown.
Pickett is currently being listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Giants. He hasn’t practiced, so it seems very unlikely that he’ll play. The Eagles are resting many of their key players, so it seems likely they will play McKee and give Pickett more time to recover.
The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Pickett with the No. 20 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft before being traded to the Eagles in March 2024.
Pickett is now getting a second chance to prove his worth with the Eagles. In a recent press conference, he talked about the difference between the two clubs.
“It’s very much a college team feel here,” Pickett told reporters. “Everyone cares about each other and when the ball gets spotted, we are going to leave it all out there. You know we put it all on the line for each other. That is incredibly special. It’s not like that everywhere. I am extremely grateful to be here.”
When Will Jalen Hurts Return?
Hurts has already been ruled out for Week 18, which begs the question: when will the Eagles get their star quarterback back? Like Pickett, Hurts has not practiced this week, but ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said on “SportsCenter” that he is expected to be back in time for the playoffs.
“Jalen Hurts, so he’s out for the second straight week, still in the concussion protocol,” Fowler said. “The Eagles say that he is progressing well through it. I’ve checked with some people there with the team who believe that absolutely he’ll be ready to play in the playoffs.
“Now, certainly he’s got to get back on the practice field and check through the five steps of the protocol, but he seems to be trending in the right direction from all that I’m hearing.”
Hurts is currently the fifth-ranked quarterback in the NFL in PFN’s QB+ metric, with a grade of 89.1 (B+). PFN’s QB+ metric assigns a letter grade to every quarterback performance and factors in a number of stats such as success rate when pressured, third-down conversion rate, pocket production, and clutch performance.
Meanwhile, it looks like McKee will start for the Eagles on Sunday against the Giants. Last week against the Cowboys, McKee came in for Pickett and completed three passes for 54 yards and two touchdowns.