Nick Foles To Become A Free Agent After Eagles Decide Against Franchise Tag

by Elijah FultonFebruary 28, 2019, 5:12 pmDaily Digest, News >

There has been a lot of speculation going on within the Philadelphia Eagles organization after reports came out that the Eagles would place a franchise tag on former Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles in attempts to trade him.

Eagles decide Against foles Franchise Tag

With the NFL season over, the window of a franchise tag is now open. A new report came out that the Eagles will not place the franchise tag on Foles. Instead, it was reported that Foles will become a free agent and will be able to sign with another team once the new league year has started on March 13.

Philadelphia previously picked up the $20 million option that was left on Foles’ contract for the 2019 season. With Carson Wentz still recovering from a torn ACL at the time, the best bet was keeping the Super Bowl MVP until he was healthy again. At that point, the veteran quarterback declined said option — giving back $2 million of his 2018 bonus. Short of Philadelphia franchise-tagging him, this was Foles’ only way of buying his freedom at the time.

The Eagles released a short video thanking Foles for his time with the organization, showcasing his highlights.

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Foles’ value to a team is obviously known by his on-field play, leading the Eagles to a Super Bowl championship after star quarterback and regular season MVP candidate Wentz went down with a torn ACL. Foles went on to lead the team to a 2-1 regular season record, winning the NFC title and finishing it off by winning the Super Bowl.

This is all pretty impressive, but even more so when we realize Foles is a backup who has the value of a starter and to some teams, maybe even a star player. With Foles winning the Super Bowl MVP this greatly adds to his value for future possible trades the Eagles could make. This could lead to the Eagles acquiring more draft picks for the franchise or a trade so they get more valuable players asset to add to the team – possibly a star wide receiver to play with the star quarterback.

A fear some teams may have in acquiring Foles is fear he begins to regress and return to playing at the backup quarterback level once he is traded to his new team. With Foles struggling in the past, in his last 12 combined starts between the Kansas City Chiefs and then-St. Louis Rams, Foles had a 5-7 record with 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. These aren’t good numbers for a starting quarterback and may be one of the reasons teams may not look for him in free agency. However, while playing for the Eagles and with playoffs included, Foles posted a 25-13 record with 69 touchdowns and 28 interceptions in Philadelphia.

The Jacksonville Jaguars look like a good fit for Foles. With the Jaguars defense already featuring several young players, to many it seems the team’s missing piece is a good quarterback. By releasing their former starting quarterback Blake Bortles, that’s definitely a position the Jaguars will have to fill before the season starts.