The Philadelphia Eagles are paying Josh McCown $12,000 a week to stay home as an emergency backup quarterback in case of a COVID-19 outbreak

• Josh McCown's 17-year football career will continue from home in 2020.
• The Philadelphia Eagles will pay McCown $12,000 a week to stay at home this season as a member of the team's practice squad.
• McCown's job will be to stay healthy and ready to take over as quarterback in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak or another emergency situation.

Seventeen years into his football career, journeyman quarterback Josh McCown might have just landed the best contract in the NFL.

At 41 years old and after playing with nine different teams, McCown reached a deal with the Philadelphia Eagles in which he will earn $12,000 a week to stay with the team as an emergency backup quarterback for the 2020 season. The biggest perk? He'll be at home — at least until he's needed.

The unique deal came together as the Eagles and the rest of the NFL prepare for the 2020 season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. For the Eagles, McCown will be a familiar face who's ready to step in should a coronavirus outbreak arise within the team's quarterback room. McCown will still be an active member, taking part in meetings through video calls.

McCown's agent, Mike McCartney, initially floated the idea that teams should have an emergency COVID quarterback in a July Sports Illustrated interview.

"It just makes too much sense," McCartney said. "That's an extremely inexpensive insurance policy at the most important position, and it gives you a guy who not just knows the offense but is keeping up with the intricacies of the game plan every week."

McCown retired ahead of the 2019 season, but he was persuaded not to hang up his cleats in order to serve as a backup for the Eagles last year. McCown wound up taking over for Philadelphia in their playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks, after Carson Wentz was injured after just two series. That made McCown the oldest quarterback in NFL history to make a playoff debut.

The Eagles' COVID-centric contract with McCown is far from the only oddity of the 2020 NFL season. Unlike the NBA and WNBA, which are finishing their seasons inside bubbles, the NFL has opted to take the same route as Major League Baseball: playing games across the country and hoping that an outbreak of COVID-19 doesn't disrupt the season to an unrecognizable extent. Some stadiums will forgo fans for the immediate future, while others are set to invite crowds in at an extremely limited capacity.

Beyond the pandemic, the football is going to look different, too: Tom Brady is a Tampa Bay Buccaneer, Cam Newton is a New England Patriot, and several other teams across the league will be watching their quarterbacks closely through the first few weeks given the lack of a preseason evaluation.

As with any season, the Eagles are hoping none of their backups will have to take the field during 2020. But should a worst-case scenario come to fruition, the Eagles will be ready thanks to McCown, McCartney, and what amounts to a $204,000 insurance-policy contract.

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