Chicago Bears: Why Nick Foles is not an option despite recent hires

Many are speculating that the recent coaching hires are pointing towards the Chicago Bears making a move for Nick Foles. For those fans wanting Foles here in Chicago, the move is highly unlikely.

Rumors are swirling around social media right now about how the recent hires of Bill Lazor and John DeFilippo could be the compass that leads the Chicago Bears into acquiring Nick Foles. Why Nick Foles you wonder? Well, connecting the dots does make sense. I give those who are making these connections credit. However, this scenario is highly unlikely to play out.

Those connecting the dots are correct in that both of the coaches Matt Nagy hired as of late have direct connections to Nick Foles. Bill Lazor was the quarterbacks coach in Philadelphia when Nick Foles had his career year. In that 2013, Foles was lights out, throwing for 27 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Could Lazor help Foles relive his glory days here in Chicago? Maybe, but getting Foles here is the problem.

John DeFilippo has connections to Nick Foles as well. In fact, DeFilippo coached Foles for two other teams. Why not a third? DeFilippo was the quarterbacks coach in Philadelphia when the Eagles went on their Super Bowl run in 2017. Foles played a big part in that run as he stepped in after Carson Wentz went down with an injury and was fantastic during the playoffs. Maybe Foles can ignite the Chicago Bears stagnant offense? Doubtful.

These coaches are great and I am extremely excited for the DeFilippo hire. He was one of my top three candidates when Ryan Pace was looking for a John Fox replacement after the 2017 season. Pace hired Nagy instead and to now have DeFilippo on the staff too. Wow. Great move by Nagy and Pace to bring him in to help fix this offense.

Alright, so now that you see how the dots connect, let us look at why this is very doubtful. Nick Foles signed a four-year, $88 million dollar contract with the Jaguars last year. He is in year two of that deal. $45 million of that contract was already paid for by the Jaguars in the first season.

Here is the thing though, Foles signed a $25 million dollar signing bonus along with the Jaguars guaranteeing a little over $50 million. Because the signing bonus is spread out over the length of the contract, even though they already paid that money, it is rolled over into the team’s dead cap if Foles were to be released or traded.

If the Jaguars were to trade Foles, the salary cap is handled as if he was released. The amount paid to Foles in his signing bonus and guaranteed money that was supposed to be spread out over the length of the contract in terms of a salary cap hit is now going to hit in 2020. The Jaguars would be on the hook for $18.625 million dollars this upcoming season.

The Jaguars only absorbed $11.25M of the guaranteed money owed to Foles in 2019. They still owe him $18.75 million dollars in signing bonus money. That is not absorbed by the team who trades for Foles. The Bears would only have to pay Foles his base salary of $15.125 million. Keeping Foles on the roster would only cost the Jaguars $22 million versus trading him and still costing them almost $19 million.

The Jaguars are already somewhat strapped in the salary cap department for 2020. The team also just ate $15 million dollars for Blake Bortles in 2019. I do not see them doing something even more drastic for Foles in 2020. The Chicago Bears would have to wow them with a trade package for the Jaguars to even try and make this work. That is not going to happen and honestly, Foles is not worth it. He is not even worth the contract the Jaguars gave him on its own accord.

Nick Foles to the Chicago Bears is not happening, even with the recent coaching hires. Connect the dots all you want, but the Chicago Bears do not have the draft capital or players to trade to make a move like this happen. The Jaguars do not have the affordability to make this trade happen either until maybe 2021. To be honest, the Bears cannot really afford it either.

I think it is time we take Foles off our want lists. There are other quarterbacks who would be better options to replace Chase Daniel and push Mitchell Trubisky for playing time anyway. The recent coaching moves speak volumes about this team trying to fix their offensive issues. Personnel moves will be coming soon enough. We will keep speculating in the meantime.