The Jacksonville Jaguars reportedly would like to trade Nick Foles to move forward with Gardner Minshew, which is an obvious desire on their part.
After what transpired with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2019, it’s no surprise that the buzz out of the NFL Combine, per ESPN’s Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler, is that the franchise is looking for a trade partner for quarterback Nick Foles. The Jaguars, who signed Foles to a four-year, $88 million contract in 2019 free agency, would hope to move on from the Super Bowl LII MVP and move forward with 2019 sixth-round pick Gardner Minshew.
There were high hopes for the Jaguars offense entering last season with the addition of Foles but they were quickly quelled when he went down in Week 1 with a collarbone injury. But that opened the door for Minshew Mania, the ensuing craze around the Washington State product, to be born.
In 14 games as a rookie, the No. 178 overall pick performed quite well, throwing for 3,271 yards, 21 touchdowns and six interceptions with a 60.6 percent completion rate and while adding 344 rushing yards. Furthermore, when Foles returned from injury later in the season, his paltry performance led to Jacksonville turning back to Minshew.
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However, the question must be asked if trying to move on from a veteran, no matter what you think of Foles, and instead favoring a sixth-round rookie is in the best interest of the Jaguars long-term. For me, the answer is obvious.
Frankly, the Jaguars should’ve never signed Foles to a contract that pays him $22 million annually on average. Yes, he performed at a high level as a backup for the Eagles but that’s what he is — a high-end backup quarterback that can win football games. He’s not, however, a viable every-week starter for a team trying to make a playoff push.
While one year with little tape on him is not nearly enough to determine whether Minshew is more than that for Jacksonville, the present possibility that he might be is valuable in itself. And when you then factor in the costs of each player, it becomes even more of a no-brainer. While Foles counts $21,837,500 against the cap in 2020, Minshew’s cap hit is only $632,904.
The money is quite important in the case of the Jaguars as well. After not picking up Marcel Dareus’ option, Jacksonville has just over $21 million in cap space this offseason. However, if they keep Yannick Ngakoue for 2020 on the franchise tag, that number drops to just $2 million. So saving money at quarterback and getting equal or better play from Minshew than Foles is critical for the Jaguars.
It would be ideal if the Jaguars could just release Foles and move on but that’s not in the cards at this point. Cutting Foles this offseason would incur a $33.875 million dead cap hit. And while they could wait until 2021 when they could save $14.375 million against the cap by cutting him, the Jags need cap relief right now.
Meanwhile, trading Foles would save the Jaguars $3,087,500 on the cap for 2020 and, while that’s a small amount, it’s not negligible in their current situation. Subsequently, everything adds up to their intentions to try and trade the quarterback and move forward with Minshew being the obvious choice.
The monkey wrench in this plan, of course, is trading Nick Foles this offseason is not going to be easy. With a strong free agency and draft class at quarterback, there’s not going to be a great market for a player who is limited and making $22 million per year.
If there is a chance of a deal happening, it would likely be a Brock Osweiler type situation where the Jaguars would have to send a draft pick alongside Foles in a trade to a team flush with cap space and looking to simply acquire draft capital. But would the Jaguars want to give up draft capital as they try to revamp their roster around Minshew? That seems unlikely — or at least somewhat unwise.
Ultimately, Foles will likely be on the Jaguars roster for 2020 and they’ll have to bite the bullet on the mistake they made in signing him to that contract for at least one more year. Even if that’s the case, however, their intentions in looking to trade the quarterback at this point are well-placed as it puts them in the best position to build a team that can compete in an increasingly tough AFC South.