LONDON — The Eagles are reportedly releasing veteran quarterback Andy Dalton ahead of their Week 5 game in London against the Jaguars. Dalton, 38, began the season as the team’s backup quarterback after competing for that job all summer, but has since lost that role and is now being released completely, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported on Friday. Garafolo also reported that Dalton could find his way back to the Eagles’ practice squad. With a bunch of injuries piling up, the Eagles are in need of roster spots and carrying four quarterbacks on the 53-man roster was no longer tenable. The Eagles will go forward with Tanner McKee and Cole Payton as their backup quarterbacks behind Jalen Hurts. Because Dalton was the Eagles’ backup quarterback to start this season, he took the field in Chicago for a few snaps when Jalen Hurts was being evaluated for a concussion in the second quarter. If this is the end for Dalton in an Eagles uniform, his one pass with the team was a costly interception on the goal line in the 27-7 loss in Week 3. Later that week, head coach Nick Sirianni was asked if he still liked Dalton as his backup quarterback. “I have a lot of faith in both of those guys,” Sirianni said. “Obviously, what happened in the game, we don’t want turnovers by anybody. Whether it was that one, whether it was Jalen’s interception, whether it was Tank [Bigsby]’s fumble, that has not been our winning formula. We can’t turn the ball over, and we did in a situation and lost points from it. I still have faith in Tanner [McKee]. I still have faith in Andy. I still like the way that Cole [Payton] is developing. I still love that room.” The next week, Sirianni reportedly demoted Dalton and made McKee the backup. The Eagles had those two compete for the backup job all training camp and neither was able to really separate. The Eagles eventually went with Dalton, who has 169 career starts under his belt. But McKee, 26, has a better arm and more upside. It took him a bit longer to learn this new offense but he seemingly outplayed Dalton for much of training camp, which made the initial decision a curious one. ...read more read less