August 28, 2026
Eric Hartline/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Tanner McKee, with either an incomplete pass down the field, or a 3-yard checkdown.
In their third and final preseason game, the Philadelphia Eagles' backups didn't look so good. On the bright side, the preseason is over. As always, we hand out 10 awards.
Heading into this game it felt a lot like Lemon would play a few series, be force-fed a few targets, and then be done for the night.
He did get three targets but had 3 catches for just three yards and a bad drop that led to an INT.
Lemon also came into the game late in the third quarter for a punt return, and he muffed a shanked grounder, before recovering it and getting immediately tackled.
I would imagine the Eagles were hoping for some more reassurance that they could start Lemon Week 1. They probably will anyway, but, yuck.
McKee had a rough game. He finished 12 of 22 for 55 yards (2.5 YPA), 0 TDs. and 1 INT. Most of those yards were on checkdowns to Carson Steele.
McKee made several bad throws along the way, including a missed opportunity to hit a wide open Britain Covey for what should have been a TD after Covey smoked a Bengals DB on a stutter-go.
Meanwhile, Dalton is 38 years old with 173 career starts and he was playing with a lot of guys who aren't going to make the team in the second half of the final preseason game. Dalton looked better than McKee at least, finishing 12 of 19 for 104 yards, 1 TD, and 0 INTs. He had one good drive, and otherwise looked a lot like a 38-year-old playing in the second half of a preseason game.
Payton was the personal protector on the punt team. In college at NDSU, he played some running back as well as some special teams before he became the starting quarterback. So it's not necessarily a surprising development that Payton played special teams in an Eagles preseason game, but it's an interesting one.
Could he be active on gameday? Eh, maybe if a few guys got hurt. But he would certainly bring a fake element to the punt team.
In the Eagles' second preseason game against the Patriots, Steele had 6 catches for 84 yards, a TD, and a couple of hurdles.
In the Eagles' third preseason game against the Bengals, Steele had 8 catches for 52 yards and a TD.
He was the Eagles' best receiver in the preseason games. My analysis on that: Not great!
Elliott made field goals of 45 and 56 yards. Those aren't cheapies. Good to see.
Sam had a very good camp, and was having a great final preseason game with a forced fumble, a couple of fumble recoveries, and a pass breakup. But, football is a brutal sport, and Sam was carted off with what looked like a serious leg injury.
McWilliams and Gushiken were both bubble players heading into this game, and they both gave up more than their share of completions. McWilliams has been praised in recent weeks by Vic Fangio, so he might survive the shaky performance, but Gushiken probably had a little less room for error. Gushiken did at least look good on special teams.
We should probably mention that the Eagles lost this game, just as they lost their first two preseason games. Meh. Doesn't matter. Over the course of the entire preseason, only one defensive starter (Jihaad Campbell) and one potential offensive starter (Makai Lemon) played, at all.
Would it have been more fun for some fans to see the backups and a bunch of guys who are going to get cut play better? Sure. But really, who cares?
Each year, we learn a bunch of new names, watch them over the course of like 5 weeks during the summer, and then we never see many of them ever again.
The Eagles will begin making cuts on Saturday, and will cut down to 53 players by 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.
The Birds' first regular season game will be September 13th, 16 days from their final preseason game. They still have some things to work out, particularly on the offensive side of the ball, but it probably helps that their first two opponents — the Washington Commanders and Tennessee Titans — had a combined record of 8-26 with a combined point differential of -289 in 2025, and don't appear to be much improved heading into 2026.
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