When the Eagles traded Nick Foles away — to the Cardinals for Sam Bradford back in 2015 — no one ever thought he would be the hottest topic of conversation on Philly sports talk radio.
And even fewer, obviously, ever thought he would be the Super Bowl MVP for the Eagles first Super Bowl championship team.
But he was. And he is.
Foles is currently the No. 2 quarterback on the Eagles depth chart, where he started the 2017 campaign. But that is one of the only things that hasn’t changed for Foles.
With Carson Wentz — an NFL MVP candidate a year ago before a devistating knee injury — rehabbing from a torn ACL and is eyeing a return for Week 1, Foles should be a hot commodity on the trade market, shouldn’t he? Eagles head coach Doug Pederson says there have been no appealing offers for Foles.
“We did not,” Pederson said when asked if they got any interesting offers, via NFL.com. “Nothing too crazy. It had to be the right deal for us to do that. But there wasn’t anything coming down our way for Nick.”
It was rumored that the Eagles want a king’s ransom for Foles, something near the first and fourth round picks they got for Bradford when he was traded to the Vikings two seasons ago. The right deal would have to be something that knocked the Eagles socks off. Otherwise, keeping the biggest Philly legend in decades as an insurance policy for Wentz as he works his way back is a priority for Foles.
“He’s totally fine being that mentor, sort of in that backup role, helping Carson along the way,” Pederson continued. “That’s who Nick is. That’s who he is. And when called upon, he’s going to perform, but he understands this is Carson’s team and he’s going to support him every way he can.”
Foles has one year left on his current contract, and his Super Bowl MVP performance could price him out of the Eagles long-term future. Many of the top potential trade partners for Foles are off the board now, with others jockeying for position in the top of the 2018 NFL draft order — a draft with some quality quarterback options. It seems as though any move for Foles would come just as the Bradford trade did: an emergency move of desperation.
Expect Foles to be taking reps alongside Wentz (if healthy) come training camp in August. And expect Howie Roseman to shuffle him away to a contending team in need sometime this fall.
