It’s safe to say that it’s impossible to read the mind of Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly.
Since signing on with the Eagles in 2013, he has released star receiver DeSean Jackson and created a front-office stir, leading to his promotion in the player personnel department. While nothing has been finalized, yet another wild scenario is shaping up.
According to NJ Advance Media’s Eliot Shorr-Parks, the St. Louis Rams and several other teams are reportedly interested in acquiring quarterback Nick Foles.
Obviously the ball is in Philadelphia’s metaphorical court, but this story does still create quite the stir in the City of Brotherly Love. Kelly has widely praised Foles, but hasn’t completely committed to the former Arizona Wildcats quarterback in the future.
“I don’t know,” Kelly said. “We’ll sit down and thoroughly evaluate everything.”
If the Eagles are looking to spark some sort of deal with the Rams though, it might be kind of difficult to get anything of value in return. By trading Foles, the Eagles would be left with Matt Barkley and G.J. Kinne as the only signal-callers left on the roster. Mark Sanchez, the man who relieved Foles this season when he went down with a broken collarbone, could become an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
At this point, it seems that trading Foles to any team other than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Tennessee Titans would put them at a huge disadvantage. The Rams, currently picking 10th overall in the 2015 NFL Draft, don’t really have anything of value to the Eagles. If Philadelphia swaps their pick with St. Louis, it still puts them at a disadvantage in the Marcus Mariota sweepstakes.
There’s the name everyone is talking about.
So what is the deal with Marcus Mariota? We know that Kelly loves his former Oregon quarterback. But unless Philadelphia maneuver themselves into the top-five it isn’t even a given that they’ll be able to get the Ducks star quarterback. The only way that I see Foles being dealt to another team is if the Eagles can work out a trade with Tampa Bay or Tennessee.
It’s unclear as to what other teams are interested in Foles, but Shorr-Parks reported that Foles is “coveted around the league.” What that means for the Eagles though remains to be seen. Honestly, the Eagles or their fan base shouldn’t be overly worried about the quarterback position at this point. While they likely will need to address the position this offseason for the depth purposes, I don’t believe that Kelly should be willing to let Foles.
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In three seasons with the Eagles, Foles has completed 61.6% of his passes and holds a quarterback rating of 94.2. In 2013, Foles recorded the third highest quarterback rating in a single-season, 119.2. That same season, he recorded an astounding 27 touchdown passes and threw only two interceptions.
It’s crystal clear what the Eagles need to do this offseason in order to be a contender in the NFC and changing their quarterback isn’t it. They need to address the defense, particularly the secondary, and possibly add another wide receiver into the fold. Yes, Foles is somewhat injury prone, but he is 14-4 over the past two seasons as the starter. His immobility is a problem to some degree in Philadelphia’s up-tempo offense, but he makes up for his lack of movement by getting the ball out quickly.
I’m sure that we’ll hear much more about Philadelphia’s quarterback situation leading up to the 2015 NFL Draft. For now, it doesn’t appear that the team will be making any drastic changes. Kelly has proven to be unreadable up until this point. However, given his new personnel duties, don’t be surprised if he does make some changes under center.