The Philadelphia Eagles technically have something to play for on Sunday in the regular season finale when they take on Washington at Lincoln Financial Field. Despite the number two seed still not determined, Nick Sirianni decided he will sit Jalen Hurts and other key starters on both sides of the football to guarantee an extra week of rest before the first round of the playoffs.
There is still a chance, even with backups in, the Eagles could beat the struggling Commanders who are starting 39-year-old journeyman Josh Johnson.
Here are six Eagles to keep an eye on in the final game of the regular season, starting with the offense:
This is obvious. Eagles’ fans certainly hold a place in their hearts for backup quarterbacks and McKee has certainly garnered affection. This is another opportunity for the 2023 sixth-round pick out of Stanford to showcase his talents and improve his value.
The 6-foot-6, 25-year-old has played well in five career games, passing for 356 yards and four touchdowns while not throwing an interception. Sunday will mark his second start of his young career. In his lone start last season in Week 18 against the Giants, McKee looked solid completing 27 of his 41 passes for 269 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the win over the Giants.
McKee could have been a starting quarterback on a handful of teams this season and there was speculation leading up to this season if Howie Roseman and the Eagles would move the backup for a high draft pick. If the backup puts together another strong performance, the Eagles might be receiving more calls about McKee in the offseason.
It was a bit of a surprising move when the Eagles acquired Bigsby from Jacksonville. After initially starting as a kick returner and struggling, some questioned if the two draft picks the Eagles sent over to the Jaguars was a bad move.
Eventually, Bigsby settled into the backup running back position supplanting Will Shipley and A.J. Dillon and he has shown flashes of his explosiveness and physicality.
On the season, the 24-year-old, who is under contract for next season, is averaging 6.0 yards per carry on 47 carries for 281 yards. He scored his first touchdown of the season against Washington two weeks ago.
It is expected the Eagles will have a good amount of backups playing on the offensive line, including the rookie center.
Kendall was the team’s fifth-round pick in this year’s draft out of Boston College and comes from good pedigree. His father, Pete, was a first-round pick by the Seattle Seahawks in 1996 and started in 188 of his 189 career games spanning 13 seasons in the NFL.
The 24-year-old had a solid training camp but has only appeared in six games this season with the Eagles opting to slide Brett Toth to center with the absence of Cam Jurgens throughout the season.
There was some serious hype surrounding Robinson in training camp when it was revealed his nickname was the “Vanilla Gorilla” along with the praise he received from teammates regarding his physicality during training camp.
It seemed that the 24-year-old drafted in the fourth-round out of Nebraska was going to have an opportunity to carve out a role in the middle of the defensive line that looked to have some voids to fill.
However, that never materialized and Robinson has been low on the pecking order on the depth chart all season, logging just 53 snaps. Sunday he has a chance to show off his strength and power.
The rookie out of UCF seemed poised to be in the running for the CB2 position when neither Kelee Ringo and Adoree’ Jackson were pulling away as the front-runner for the starting job. McWilliams even drew praise from Vic Fangio earlier in the season about his ability to even slide into the nickel role if needed.
McWilliams, though, has not seen much game action, playing just seven snaps all season.
Campbell has been a starter this season and has found himself back in the starting lineup with Nakobe Dean nursing a hamstring. Campbell got off to a strong start to his rookie season before taking a back seat to Dean when he returned from his injury last season.
The first-round pick of this year’s draft has made meaningful contributions on the field. He has 70 tackles on the season with two for a loss, a quarterback hit, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and an interception.
How Roseman and the Eagles are going to handle paying which players on defense moving forward, Campbell’s emergence certainly makes it more complex.
