NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JANUARY 13: Nick Foles #9 of the Philadelphia Eagles attempts a pass during the fourth quarter against the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Divisional Playoff Game at Mercedes Benz Superdome on January 13, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
The Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl LII will indeed become an unrestricted free agent. So what’s next for Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback Nick Foles?
A few weeks ago, Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback Mick Foles paved the way to enter free agency after buying out his option. Now the franchise which he helped lead to an NFL championship in 2017 has taken the necessary steps to make sure he will indeed be on the open market.
There was a lot of speculation in recent weeks that the Eagles’ organization would still try to control what happened to Super Bowl LII’s Most Valuable Player. The club could have placed the franchise tag on Foles and then receive some sort of compensation via a trade with another club.
But that all changed on Wednesday afternoon in Indianapolis at the NFL Scouting Combine as executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman announced the following (via Jeremy Berman of NFL.com): “We’ve spent a lot of time discussing this internally and with him and we’ve decided to let Nick become a free agent.” Roseman explained that the team “did not make the decision lightly.”
While the “legal tampering” of unrestricted free agents begins on March 11 – two days before the new NFL fiscal year, and thus free agency, starts at 4:00 pm ET – it’s somewhat easy to connect the dots when it comes to suitors for Foles. The Washington Redskins are certainly in the mix for a quarterback given Alex Smith’s uncertain football future. The Miami Dolphins are expected to move on from Ryan Tannehill, who has struggled to stay healthy for a couple of seasons.
But the most logical destination could be Jacksonville, where Foles would be reunited with John DeFilippo. The latter was the Eagles’ quarterbacks coach in 2017 and is now the Jaguars’ latest offensive coordinator. Like the Dolphins, Doug Marrone’s team appears to be ready to move on from the starter of recent seasons in turnover-prone Blake Bortles.
The seven-year signal-caller has played for a number of his teams during his career but he’s been one of the guiding forces for the Eagles’ recent postseason success. In any case, Foles will officially hit the open market in two weeks – with no strings attached. Let the bidding for services begin.