Under Tom Coughlin’s leadership, the Jacksonville Jaguars signed Nick Foles to the biggest free-agent contract in team history (a four-year deal worth $88 million) in hopes that he’d be a franchise quarterback. Now, a year later, they’ve decided to move on from the veteran.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Jags will be trading Foles to the Chicago Bears and will receive a fourth-round compensatory pick for him. For the 2020 season, the Jags will save a projected amount of over three million towards the cap.
The Jags pranced on Foles last spring after he came off a run in which he replaced Carson Wentz late in the Philadelphia Eagles’ 2017 season. He was able to propel them to and through the playoffs and was named the MVP of Super Bowl LII. That seemingly impressed Coughlin and company enough to take a swing on him last March and the rest is history.
Foles’ luck wasn’t as fortunate with the Jags as he sustained a broken collarbone Week 1 of the regular season against the Kansas City Chiefs. As a result, sixth-round rookie Gardner Minshew II had to step in until Week 11. When Foles was able to return from injury, he wasn’t able to find his groove, which resulted in Minshew being renamed the starter Week 14 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
By the end of the season, Minshew’s success outweighed that of Foles as the rookie finished the season 285-of-470 (60.6%) for 3,271 passing yards, 21 touchdowns, six picks, and was 6-6 as a starter. He was also named Pepsi Rookie of the Week seven times and was Snicker’s Hungriest Player of the Year for 2019.
Foles, on the other hand, was 77-of-117 (65.8%) for 736 yards, three touchdowns, and two picks. While under center he, unfortunately, wasn’t able to register a win with the Jags and was 0-4 as a starter in 2019.
Foles will now join his former offensive coordinator from the Eagles, Frank Reich, in Indy. It was expected that the Colts would be on the quarterback market, so many felt Foles could be an option for them from the jump.
Foles will now head to Chicago to join former Jags offensive coordinator John DeFilippo, who was also his positions coach in Philadelphia. He’ll likely be replacing current Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky, who hasn’t met expectations since he was drafted in the first-round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
