2026 Week 6 Fantasy Football Breaking News: Tanner McKee to Start for Eagles With Jalen Hurts Out

Jalen Hurts has been ruled out for Sunday's game against the Panthers after being diagnosed with a blood clot, according to ProFootballTalk (NBC Sports). Tanner McKee will make the start — the first meaningful start of his NFL career.

Tanner McKee

McKee's only prior starts came in Week 18 the last two seasons, when the Eagles had already clinched their playoff seed and rested their starters — garbage-time football with nothing on the line. This Sunday is a different animal entirely. He has never taken a meaningful regular-season snap outside of garbage time, per ProFootballTalk (NBC Sports).

The fantasy situation around him is murky. The Eagles cut veteran backup Andy Dalton last week — before Hurts's blood clot diagnosis — and ProFootballTalk (NBC Sports) notes it "wouldn't be surprising" if the Eagles ask Dalton to return. The only other QB on the roster is Cole Payton, a fifth-round rookie with one season of starting experience at North Dakota State. Until the Eagles clarify their QB room, McKee's hold on the starting spot isn't even fully secure.

Even if McKee starts, he's a dart-throw at best in redraft. An untested QB making his first real NFL start against a live defense has ceiling concerns across the board. The Week 5 recap already showed the Eagles offense operating without several key skill players — top running backs and DeVonta Smith were sidelined — so McKee inherits an offense that was already shorthanded. Dallas Goedert returned in Week 5 and remains a potential lifeline, but until we see McKee perform in a real game, treat Eagles skill players as boom-bust risks this week, not locks. In dynasty, monitor how McKee performs — this is the first real data point his managers will ever have on him.