What we learned: Eagles QB factory, the good, bad, and ugly (overthrows) were on full display vs. Browns

The Eagles limped out of an 18-18 tie against the Cleveland Browns on Thursday, marking an anticlimactic but merciful end to a contest that featured several scary injuries and players stretchered off the field. There were standout performers, important lessons, and lingering questions.

Here’s what we learned about this Eagles team:

In good times and bad, Howie Roseman’s quarterback factory endures.

The general manager’s constant churning and expenditure of resources at the position inevitably has its ebbs and flows, and Thursday’s game was a full-circle experience.

Tanner McKee’s emphatic performances in consecutive games were the peaks to Marcus Mariota’s dreadful first-half valleys.

Mariota, who signed a one-year, $5 million deal in the offseason, chucked a handful of quizzically overthrown passes in the first half of the game. His worst throw of the night soared about 5 feet over Grant Calcaterra’s outstretched hand and into the grips of Browns safety Ronnie Hickman.

Mariota’s struggles during training camp have been well-documented, but the level of concern has to be rising about the 29-year-old’s current grasp of the offense and his ability to hit receivers with accuracy and anticipation. Perhaps the Eagles can run-pass option a team to death if Jalen Hurts goes down, but Mariota’s struggles as a drop-back passer make using other parts of the offense dubious.

Then there’s McKee, the team’s sixth-round pick out of Stanford: a lanky Pac-12 quarterback with limited mobility but a knack for consistently making good decisions on RPOs and getting hot as a backup.

Heard of anyone like that?

McKee’s preseason debut was tantalizing and he followed it up with more of the same. His processing, accuracy, and aggressiveness stand in stark contrast to Mariota so far.

Whimsical Nick Foles comparisons and preseason hype aside, there’s still good reason for Mariota to stay at QB2 going into the season. The throws McKee has pulled off have been impressive, but, as Nick Sirianni pointed out, it has been against vanilla preseason defenses manned by backups. He has flashed enough to wonder if he can sling it against actual NFL starters while opposing coordinators try harder to muddy the picture. But without that answer, Mariota and his eight years of experience still offer a safer bet even with his recent struggles.

McKee’s strong preseason instead suggests the Eagles could be in position where they won’t have to search for another Mariota type in free agency next offseason, which is encouraging enough. A long-term backup for Hurts makes the sixth-round pick, as head-scratching as it was at the time, look like an excellent use of resources. McKee is quite different stylistically to Hurts, but the “slow mesh” run-pass option scheme he ran in Stanford seems to have enough commonalities to the Eagles’ to ease his transition and give him a real chance to be a viable backup eventually.

The kid can play; it just might take more time.

» READ MORE: Do the Eagles have a No. 2 quarterback problem with Marcus Mariota or is the answer Tanner McKee?

Speaking of tantalizing young players, Nakobe Dean made the type of play that could go a long way toward shoring up the Eagles defense this season.

On the Browns’ first series, the former Georgia linebacker read his keys, broke on the ball, and forced a fumble near the goal line. The turnover came one play after Dean was charged with a 15-yard penalty for hitting Cleveland’s Dorian Thompson-Robinson in the head as the rookie quarterback slid to the ground.

In search of two starting linebackers for the nickel packages the defense spends most of the time in, defensive coordinator Sean Desai will be looking for more splash plays and fewer penalties from Dean over the next couple of weeks.

Few players can impact the ceiling and floor of the Eagles defense like Dean, a third-round pick in 2022. Among Christian Elliss, Nicholas Morrow, Zach Cunningham, and Myles Jack, the team should be able to find at least one replacement-level linebacker to pair with Dean, but the group will likely be defined by how much of a difference maker Dean can be.

» READ MORE: Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean makes his mark in preseason debut

The defense has gotten by with high-effort, low-pedigree players at linebacker the last few seasons, but Dean has a chance to be more than that. He was the best linebacker in college football and, even though concerns about his smaller frame holding up in the NFL hurt his draft stock, he made enough splash plays in the Southeastern Conference to keep Thursday’s forced fumble from being much of a surprise.

If Dean can be a difference maker, the picture at linebacker becomes a lot clearer. At 6-foot-3 with long arms, Cunningham has been intriguing in coverage and had some nice plays running with Dean on the starting defense Thursday night. The former Titans and Texans linebacker had seven tackles, tied for the team lead, against the Browns, and even got pressure as a blitzer on the Browns’ first series.

Nolan Smith vs. Dawand Jones was worth the wait.

We didn’t get to see the two face off in the College Football Playoff semifinal between Georgia and Ohio State last December because Smith was sidelined with a pectoral injury, but Thursday night was an instructive showing for the two rookies.

The hulking Browns tackle, who measured in at 6-8, 374 pounds at the scouting combine, struggled against the Smith’s speed off the ball and bend around the corner, which is an encouraging sign for the edge rusher as he adjusts to bigger, stronger tackles in the NFL. Smith got by Jones on several occasions, including one play in which he flushed Thompson-Robinson up in the pocket and set up a split sack for Marlon Tuipulotu and Kentavius Street.

Smith was even better in run defense. He made a splashy play on a reverse, getting off the ball too quickly for the tight end responsible for blocking him and chasing down Cleveland receiver Anthony Schwartz for a 5-yard loss.

Smith left the game after the tackle for loss with a shoulder injury, but he said after the game he was held out for precautionary reasons and felt fine.

Smith was among several Eagles players to spend time with the trainers Thursday.

Wide receivers Olamide Zaccheaus and Tyrie Cleveland, cornerback Zech McPhearson, defensive end Moro Ojomo, and guard Josh Andrews all suffered injuries of varying severity during the game. McPhearson will miss the season with a torn Achilles tendon, according to a league source, joining linebacker Shaun Bradley as key special teams contributors from last year dealing with Achilles injuries.

Both Cleveland and Ojomo were stretchered off with injuries, and according to the team, Cleveland was diagnosed with a neck sprain and concussion, Ojomo with a concussion. Andrews was ruled out with an ankle injury and Zaccheaus was held out with a shoulder injury but returned to the sideline along with Smith.

Perhaps the quick turnaround from Saturday’s preseason opener — rescheduled from last Friday — to Thursday was a contributing factor for the number of hurt reserves. Either way, the team’s depth will be tested at cornerback without McPhearson, who was cross-training in the slot during camp as Avonte Maddox recovered from a lingering toe injury.

Meanwhile, most of the Eagles starters await joint practices with the Indianapolis Colts after watching Thursday’s game from the sideline. The team’s approach to holding back starters won’t prevent all injuries — Haason Reddick suffered a thumb injury that required surgery in practice Monday — but it seems more and more like the right call in the league’s new condensed preseason.

With Cam Jurgens in the starting lineup and Tyler Steen looking better at tackle so far, the Eagles’ interior line depth isn’t as strong as it once was. Josh Sills struggled mightily, missing a key block on a Browns safety and giving up a sack early in the next series. Sills’ struggles after being on the commissioner’s exempt list aren’t as surprising as the fact that he’s in the mix to be the first guard off the bench behind Jurgens and Landon Dickerson. Sua Opeta has looked marginally better than Sills and Dennis Kelly has struggled at guard, leaving the team without many good options behind the two starters.

It was a quiet night for safety Sydney Brown, who had just one tackle after leading the team the previous game. He missed one tackle as well, according to Pro Football Focus.

Jack didn’t play until late in the fourth quarter. The first linebacker pairing of the night was Dean and Cunningham and the second group featured Elliss and Morrow. At the very least, it seems like Cunningham has overtaken Jack on the depth chart since the two veterans joined the team a few weeks ago.