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Foles delivered a Super Bowl to Philadelphia, but now it’s time for him to build his legacy with another team.
Nick Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles will be parting ways this offseason. The Eaglesused their team option on Foles, but he decided to buy them out, probably making him a free agent.
The Eagles still have the option to use a franchise or transition tag on Foles by March 5. That’d secure Philadelphia the rights to Foles through the 2019 season, but that would only make sense if the Eagles have already lined up a trade involving the quarterback.
Either way, his days playing in Philly are over, marking the the end of an era. Foles delivered the Eagles their first Super Bowl championship in 2017 and helped get them to the Divisional Round of the playoffs this past season. Now the 30-year-old will get (another) chance to continue to build his legacy as a starter on another team.
As is the case every offseason, there are a handful of teams that need a quarterback in some capacity. Here are four that could in play for Foles this time around, listed from the most likely landing spot to the least:
1. Jacksonville Jaguars
It’s not a secret that the Jaguars are in the market for a quarterback after an abysmal year with Blake Bortles and Cody Kessler. Unfortunately for the Jaguars, they’re currently in cap hell. As things stand now, the Jaguars currently have negative $4.3 million in cap space— cutting Blake Bortles would only get them right around the positive numbers.
There’s plenty of fiddling with the roster that the Jaguars can do, though. They’re expected to part ways with Malik Jackson to save $11 million and have several other ways to get back in good financial shape.
Foles would be an upgrade to what they played with last season, and he’d be reunited in Jacksonville with John DeFilippo. The Jaguars’ new offensive coordinator was the quarterbacks coach in Philadelphia during Foles’ miraculous run to become Super Bowl MVP a little over a year ago.
Foles would also be a decent option for the Jaguars because he could hold the fort down for a rookie — if they select a quarterback with their top-10 pick come April.
2. Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins are an unlikely landing spot for Foles until they clear a decent amount of cap space to get him on the roster. As it stands now, they have about $12 million in cap space, but they can free up about $ 13 million by releasing Ryan Tannehill, as expected.
From an organizational and team-building standpoint, bringing Foles in as a bridge quarterback makes sense. Miami has the No. 13 pick in the draft and could select a quarterback, even if it’s one who needs time to develop. Plus, Brian Flores was the only coach to receive a fully guaranteed five-year contract— he’ll have time to build a competitive roster.
If Flores wants to avoid a complete disaster for a year or two while the Dolphins groom a rookie quarterback, Foles could be a potential option for Miami.
3. Washington
Washington has found itself in an awful spot this offseason. After the team signed Alex Smith to a contract that’s pretty much impossible to get out of (look at that dead cap!), he suffered a gruesome leg injury that might cause him to miss the 2019 season.
Unless Jay Gruden wants to completely tank the 2019 season, he’ll likely need a quarterback who can immediately play this season. Washington has about $20 million in cap space, so it might have just enough cash to make a run for Nick Foles.
Case Keenum signed a deal worth $18 million per year in 2018, and Sam Bradford signed one worth an average of $20 million. Neither contract worked out well, but it’s hard to imagine Foles gets any less.
Punting on the 2019 season instead of paying up for Foles might not be the worst idea for Washington, though. This is a team that could use some top-tier talent in the 2020 NFL Draft while it tries to buoy an uncertain quarterback situation.
It’s also a sticking point that Washington is in the NFC East. That wouldn’t matter much if Foles becomes a free agent, but the Eagles would reportedly prefer to tag and trade the quarterback so he doesn’t wind up with a division rival.
4. Denver Broncos
Finding a quarterback after Peyton Manning’s retirement hasn’t gone smoothly. It was supposed to be Brock Osweiler, but he ditched the Broncos to join the Texans— which was really a dodged bullet for Denver.
Then it was Trevor Siemian while 2016 first-round pick Paxton Lynch prepared for the job. Neither of those worked out either. Last year, the Broncos signed Case Keenum to a two-year, $36 million deal, but he turned back into pumpkin just like everyone except the Broncos expected.
So here we are again with the Broncos in desperate need of some stability at quarterback.
The No. 10 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft could be a good place to fix the problem, but if Denver cuts Keenum to save $11 million, the team will probably want to find some veteran help.
John Elway’s comments in January suggest it probably won’t be someone as pricy as Foles, though.
“Obviously, we’ve got to—Case [Keenum] is probably a short-term fix—find the long-term guy for us,” Elway told Peter King. “When we do find that guy, we’ve got to have the continuity on the offensive side to where we can train him and develop him and get him there.”
Foles just turned 30 and is probably another one of those short-term fixes.
Then again, this is Elway we’re talking about.