Eagles QB Coach Alex Tanney Has High Bar to Reach

Doug Pederson and Frank Reich set the bar.

Now, it’s Alex Tanney’s turn to see how close he can come to reaching it.

There’s something about backup NFL quarterbacks who find their way into coaching and find success as so many have.

Pederson and Reich, of course, delivered the first Super Bowl championship to the Philadelphia Eagles as head coach and offensive coordinator, respectively. Both were longtime, successful backups in the league.

Tanney, 35, was promoted to be the team’s quarterback coach after head coach Nick Sirianni promoted Brian Johnson from that post to offensive coordinator. Johnson is also a former quarterback, having been a starter at the University of Utah and Sugar Bowl MVP, but never was an NFL backup.

Tanney spent time with eight different teams trying to latch on in the NFL.

By his estimation, he had 12 different coaches and 12 different offensive coordinators in that time, so he believes he brings a different perspective to his new post.

“Some coaches and just so many different philosophies, and I think just seeing things maybe in a different lens than others and then trying to share that experience that I have with the guys I have in our room,” he said on Thursday afternoon.

Two former Eagles backup quarterbacks are trying to make it to the Pederson/Reich bar as well, and they are Mike Kafka, now the offensive coordinator with the New York Giants, and Josh McCown, who is the quarterback coach with the Carolina Panthers.

Kellen Moore, a former offensive coordinator with the Dallas Cowboys and now in the same position with the Los Angeles Chargers, is also a former backup quarterback on the rise.

Tanney offered his take on why backup quarterbacks succeed in the coaching ranks.

“I don’t know if I could necessarily pin that down, but playing the quarterback position you have to know what’s going on everywhere, so you have to understand where the point is in protection or the run game, the route concepts, the route discipline that Nick’s always talking about," he said.

“Then you have to worry about the things on your plate with your footwork, your mechanics, how you’re reading certain progressions. I think there’s so much on your plate playing that position that it just gives you a little jumpstart when you get into coaching because you’re somewhat familiar with having to understand all the things that are going on with a certain play.”

Tanney said he began thinking about becoming a coach when he was in college at Division III Monmouth College in Illinois, where he set D3 records for passing yards (14,25) and touchdowns (157).

So, he developed a network with each coach he came across, telling them he wanted to get into the profession eventually. He would pick the brains of such players and coaches he came across such as Mike Shula, Pat Shurmur, Eli Manning, Andrew Luck, Matt Hasselbeck, and McCown.

He studied players who didn’t always necessarily play the position and said he would have studied center Jason Kelce had he at any point been a member of the Eagles.

Now, in his third season with the Eagles, he will oversee a quarterback room led by Jalen Hurts, former Tennessee Titans teammate Marcus Mariota, Ian Book, and rookie Tanner McKee.

After being hired in 2021 to be an offensive quality control coach and then promoted to assistant quarterback/offensive assistant last season, this will be his first time leading the quarterbacks.

“I don’t know if (anything will) change a whole lot,” he said. “ The first year I was here I wasn’t permanently in that room but was able to establish a relationship with (Hurts), then last year being in there getting to know him better and better, so that’s certainly a positive headed into this year.

“It’s not like I’m stepping into a room not knowing the guy at all. But just seeing how he works, the time he puts in, his routine, his process is certainly going to be valuable for me just not trying to change too much, just putting my spin on it but also staying true to what’s been working for him.”

Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.

Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.