Nick Foles is going to be a Jaguar. The Super Bowl MVP agreed to terms on a four-year deal with the Jaguars, with a base value of $88MM. While Foles cashed in, he didn’t have much of a choice on where to go. There were “no significant other suitors” for Foles’ services on the open market, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network (Twitter link). In the video posted to his account. Garafolo explains that Jacksonville was essentially bidding against themselves, but didn’t mind overpaying.
Garafolo reports the Jaguars wanted to pay Foles more than they had to, so that he would have the immediate credibility in the locker room of being the unquestioned starter. The Jags thought it would’ve sent the wrong message if they had lowballed Foles and tried to pay him something in the $15MM range, and that it would’ve diminished Foles’ standing. Having Foles being able to step in and manage all the large personalities in their locker room is very important to the team, Garafolo notes.
Here’s more from around the league on a very busy first day of free agency:
- Broncos cornerback Bradley Roby is “getting a lot of interest” from teams, according to James Palmer of NFL Network (Twitter link). Palmer reports that the competition for Roby seems to have narrowed down to the Texans, Browns, Steelers, 49ers, Raiders and Broncos. Everything we’ve heard recently has indicated Roby will be walking in free agency, so it would be a bit of a surprise if he returned to Denver. A 2014 first round pick, Roby has been a solid player but has never quite lived up to his draft status. He started 15 games for the Broncos last year.
- Texans defensive lineman Christian Covington isn’t ruling out a return to Houston, but the team plans to let him test the open market, according to Aaron Wilson of The Houston Chronicle. Wilson reports that Covington is expected to have a “healthy market” in free agency. Covington has been a bit player for the Texans the past four seasons, but did have a career-high 3.5 sacks in relatively limited action last season.
- The Saints are “still hoping” to retain Mark Ingram, but they aren’t going to break the bank to do it, according to Dan Graziano of ESPN.com. Graziano writes the Saints won’t be willing to pay much more than the $4MM they gave Ingram last season. A split could make sense for both sides if Ingram is looking for a raise and New Orleans is looking to give Alvin Kamara even more touches.
Well, that’s silly. You could have paid him the $15m and then invested the remaining $7m in a skill player for him to play with
Ya this sounds like a hindsight excuse after they found out nobody else even gave Foles much thought.
My guess is that the Osweiler and Keenum deals over the past few years,
Stupid app version posted my comment before I was done, but my guess is that the Keenum and Osweiler deals, among others, over the past few years gave a bunch of teams pause on paying for backups that haven’t proven a lot.
However, Jags are different in that Bortles was so bad and they have a really good team that Bortles actually negated due to how bad he was. So they actually probably don’t mind overpaying as they are desperate.
I suppose it wouldn’t be a good look to pay Foles less than Bortles was making, so I can understand it from that point of view. It also suggests that maybe Blake’s issues weren’t just on the field, but in the locker room, and the Jags wanted to avoid that again at all costs.
“Having Foles being able to step in and manage all the large personalities in their locker room is very important to the team.”
The Jags management is really this delusional? They could have signed Dr. Phil cheaper.