A year ago, there was hope that Nick Foles could guide the Bears to the postseason. Now, the veteran quarterback finds himself on the outside looking in with the franchise.
Chicago has completely revamped their quarterbacks room this offseason. The team first signed veteran Andy Dalton to take over the starting gig, and they surprised many pundits when they traded up to select Justin Fields with the No. 11 overall pick in this year’s draft. As a result of the quarterback refresh, Foles will find himself as the third quarterback heading into 2021. Matt Nagy indicated as much the other day, referring to Fields as “the guy” if Dalton ends up getting sidelined with an injury, and the coach seemed pretty steadfast on the team’s current pecking order.
“There will be a process and a plan,” Nagy said (via Patrick Finley of the Chicago Tribune). “We will stick to that. That plan is not going to change tomorrow. The plan is not going to change in training camp. The plan is a plan — and it’s been thought out.
“All three of those guys know that you need to produce, you need to play well, you need to compete, you need to be the best quarterback you can be. And then it’s going to be really pretty easy for us to see who that is and how that goes.”
Normally, a team would probably let the veteran third-stringer go so he could find his next gig before training camp. However, it’d end up costing the Bears more to cut Foles than keep him. The 32-year-old is still owed $4MM in guaranteed money, and they’d be left with a hefty $6.6MM dead cap charge if they release him. In other words, cutting Foles would just exasperate the Bears salary cup crunch, meaning the only way Foles isn’t on the roster to start 2021 is if he’s traded.
Of course, it takes two to tango, and the Bears front office would need to find a taker for Foles. The former Super Bowl MVP didn’t impress during his first season in Chicago; he guided the Bears to a 2-5 record in his seven starts, completing 64.7-percent of his passes for 1,852 yards, 10 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. Teams probably aren’t lining up for Foles services at the moment, but that could easily change. QBs will surely suffer injuries during training camp and the preseason, and those teams could easily turn to the Bears if they need an experienced arm.
Further, teams will also get clarity on their quarterback depth throughout August. For instance, several pundits have recently suggested that the Jets would be a logical suitor for Foles as a backup to Zach Wilson. The team will surely want to get a thorough look at their current backup options (including 2020 fourth-round pick James Morgan and former UDFA Mike White) before they start exploring the trade market, but they could be at least one suitor who’s uninspired by their current choices.
While Foles disappointed in 2020, he’s not far removed from that iconic 2017 (and, to a lesser extent, 2018) run, and teams would surely take him on as their number-two QB. However, if one of these teams does want to acquire the veteran, they’ll likely have to do so via trade.
The Jets have been linked to him for most of the off-season, but I don’t see them easily letting the Bears off in their cap dilemma. They could try to do a contract swap with one of their o-linemen that isn’t a lock to make the team and a draft pick.
Yeah I don’t see Foles making a ton of sense for the jets. If Wilson were to get hurt, the jets would want to see what they have in Morgan / White.
Think Foles makes more sense for a win now club with a less settled backup situation such as the Cowboys or Seahawks.
The Jets don’t care what they have in Morgan. They care about putting the best possible support system around Wilson. A veteran QB to work with him is part of that support system.
And yet they’ve done nothing to bring in such a veteran QB. I think Foles makes sense for them, but they don’t seem too keen on acquiring him or any other QB mentor for Wilson.
That pic of Foles would be perfect as the cover photo for Tom Waits – The Piano Has Been Drinking
Not the most flattering picture for sure. I laughed when I saw it myself
Any Tom Waits reference is a good reference!
“The plan is a plan — and it’s been thought out”.
The captain of the Titanic expressed a similar thought just before the ship sank.
A great philosopher once said “Nobody panics when things go ‘according to to plan’, even if the plan is horrifying.
Another great philosophizer once said:
“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
Iron Mike! Right up there with Socrates and Aristotle.
“No plan survives contact with the enemy.”
I wonder if Jeff Hostetler wishes he could’ve made Foles’ money in his era lol
That, and more. Hoss has a winning record as a starter for each of his three teams, the Giants, Raiders and Redskins, while Foles has been a loser everywhere but Philadelphia. He’s even got a better record than Foles as a playoff starter, 4-1 to 4-2.
It’s Exacerbate the Bears salary cap crunch not exasperate. Right idea, wrong word. In any case getting $4 million to stand at midfield during the season with your helmet off is pretty good work if you can get it.
I know Cap is a issue in Pittsburgh, not as much now with Decastro released, however this would almost make to much sense for them in case Big Ben falters, They have a lot of Confidence it seems in Haskins but he has to prove it, Dobbs is there to compete with Haskins, and Apparently Mason is going to be in the depth Chart regardless. Now I’m not sure if Chicago or anyone else in the NFL would be interested in Mason, but him and 4 or 5 in for the bears for Foles wouldn’t be bad. Now granted if there is a better offer I would go much past that.
Is Nick Foles the new Earl Morall?
No. Even outside of his Don Shula years in Baltimore and Miami, Morrall was still 30-32-2 as a starter, and even made a Pro Bowl one year for the then chronically mediocre to pathetic Steelers. Outside of Philadelphia, Foles is 7-16 as a starter. I’d take Morrall over Foles in an instant.
I could actually see the Saints taking Foles on the cheap, allowing them to use Hill in “Swiss Army Knife” role, and letting Winston and Foles battle it out under the watchful eye of Payton. The Saints need a game manager, who can move the chains, let the run game set up play action, and play good defense and special teams. They’ve basically been doing that for the last two seasons. Just my opinion…
Outside of his famous 30 interceptions season, Winston’s career INT rate is 3.0% Not good for this day and age, but it’s the same as Eli Manning’s, and not so far off from Philip Rivers’ 2.6% and Drew Brees’ 2.3% that Sean Payton can’t work with him.
I wish they would trade him to the Packers to make Aaron Rodgers sweat a little bit. Ok, I kid….but he’s GOTTA be better than Blake Bortles, right?