5 reasons Nick Foles to Chicago Bears makes too much sense
3. Compensation
The next roadblock is finding the right compensation. Sure, the Bears would sign Foles to be a backup, but now they have to lose assets as well? The team does not have a first-round pick and cannot keep trading draft assets away. However, any hit to the current roster pushes them in the wrong direction.
Fortunately, it is not going to cost the world for Chicago to add Foles. As mentioned, the Bears are essentially helping the Jags out here. They are cutting salaries off of the Jags cap. They are taking on money for not only this year, but they are clearing the Jags of this contract for 2021 and 2022.
Sure, the Bears adding Foles helps, but the Jags need to do this deal as well. They do not want to be stuck paying well over $20 million for Foles to be a backup next year and moving forward. They certainly cannot release him and see his dead cap balloon to $33 million.
On top of that, there isn’t a list of teams willing to trade the house to take on $15 million for Foles. Not many organizations have the need, salary cap space, and certainly, no team has a landing spot filled with coaches that would embrace Foles like Chicago.
The Jags need to trade Foles, and he does not have a big market. This hugely helps Chicago.
Let’s look back to the Brock Osweiler trade of 2017. The Texans gave Osweiler a four-year extension and, after one year, were ready to move on. The Texans decided to attach a second-round pick with Osweiler, to send him to Cleveland, getting just a fourth-rounder back.
The Texans dropped two rounds in the draft to clear $10 million in cap space, and to shed the Osweiler deal from their long term implications.
The Jags cannot save nearly as much as Houston, and Foles is a bit more respected than Osweiler. Nonetheless, the Texans were better off for cutting their losses.
The Bears will likely have to throw something out there to get Foles. However, this is going to be a very late pick, and probably a conditional pick at that. The Jags see a chance to add a late pick and save cap space; the pick does not have to blow them away here.
All in all, the price is likely to be right for Chicago.