If there is one quarterback to tie to the Chicago Bears this offseason, it is Nick Foles.
Ryan Pace left the 2019 NFL season with the feeling that the Chicago Bears would be moving forward with the intentions of Mitch Trubisky starting. However, he also left the door open to fixing the rest of the quarterback room and using those spots to find competition for Trubisky.
Pace noted that Tyler Bray and Chase Daniel are free agents, and would not commit to a fifth-year option for Trubisky quite yet.
With that in mind, the Bears are going to bring in someone. It would make sense to add a free agent and a later draft pick to give a Trubisky a whole new room and added pressure.
While Nick Foles is not a free agent, many expect the Jacksonville Jaguars to shop him this offseason after a bad marriage between the two in 2019. With that in mind, are the Chicago Bears the perfect team to trade for the Super Bowl-winning quarterback? Here are five reasons why it makes too much sense.
5. Coaches
To say that Nick Foles is familiar with the coaching staff would be an understatement. To start, head coach Matt Nagy and Foles have a history. When Foles was drafted in 2012, Nagy was the offensive quality control coach for the Eagles. He picked Foles up from the airport when he was drafted. The two only spent one year in Philadelphia together but were re-united in 2016 when Nagy was the OC of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Foles stepped in as the backup and even started a game that year, throwing three touchdowns to no interceptions.
Nagy and Foles developed a relationship this year, and Foles even borrowed Nagy’s car during training camp of 2016. Nagy said this of Foles:
"Nick is about as good of a human being as you’ll find. You want to talk about people that do things the right way, somebody that cares about others, somebody that just wants to play for the love of the game."
The Bears biggest offseason change in coaching staff was moving on from Mark Helfrich and bringing on Bill Lazor. Lazor came from Cincinnatti, but cut his teeth in the NFL with Chip Kelly and the Eagles. His first NFL job was to be the quarterback coach of Nick Foles. Foles threw 27 touchdowns and two interceptions, helping Lazor get a promotion in Miami.
Last year, Foles said he still keeps in touch with Lazor.
"“I still keep in touch. He pays attention to detail and each and every day works hard,” Foles said. “Any coach that has the attention to detail and wants to give the information to their players is going to be a great coach. Working on fundamentals and he does all that.”"
Lastly, the Bears hired John DeFilippo to be their quarterback’s coach. He is the most familiar with Foles of the group, which says a lot. DeFilippo was the Eagles quarterback coach when Nick Foles stepped in as a backup and won a Super Bowl. DeFilippo also got hired by the Jacksonville Jaguars, which helped them sign Foles in free agency.
The year did not go the way either planned, but just last year, the combination of Foles and “Flip” was supposed to be unleashed. Here is what Flip had to say of Foles last year at this time.
"“It’s great having a player who understands the schemes and understands what you’re trying to do, because he can reinforce the intricacies of what we’re trying to do offensively.”"
It is safe to say that there are at least three men in the room who would vouch for Foles and would have no issue coaching Foles. It is just as clear that Foles would have no issue playing for these men and learning their scheme.
4. Salary
The biggest issue with the Jaguars signing Foles was his huge salary. A four-year, $88 million deal is a lot to swallow. When Foles got hurt in week one and struggled to bounce back, the deal became a disaster.
If the Jaguars keep Foles this offseason, he will be on their salary cap for over $22 million. Considering the Jags benched Foles to roll with the younger Garnder Minshew, it would appear that they have a $22 million backup.
The Jags cannot cut him because of the signing bonus they gave him, but they can trade him. Trading him would still put the signing bonus prorated cost against the Jaguars salary cap, which would be about an $18 million hit. However, it would cut off their long term commitments to Foles and would save them just over $3 million in 2020 cap space.
The team that trades for Foles would have to take on $15 million for 2020. Foles would also be on contract for 2021 and 2022. Those cap hits would be about $20 million. However, the Bears could also get out of the deal after either year and would have a minimal dead salary.
So, the Bears can look at trading for Foles as trading for a one-year, $15 million quarterback who has two options years attached if it works out.
$15 million sounds like a lot for Foles, especially if Pace sticks to his word, and Trubisky starts in 2020. However, the price of a quarterback is a lot, and the price of having a protection plan at quarterback is priceless.
Just last season, the Titans put a $20.9 million quarterback in Marcus Mariota on the bench for a $5.4 million Ryan Tannehill. The Titans spent $26.3 million against the cap on both quarterbacks, and let the competition play itself out. It was worth having that backup plan as the Titans were 2-4 with Mariota and found a way to the AFC championship.
Foles would make about $15 million while Trubisky is on the cap for $9.2 million. This is no different than how the Titans spent their money at quarterback last offseason.
The Browns paid Tyrod Taylor $16 million and drafted Baker Mayfield, ensuring he was not their starter longterm. The Eagles paid Foles $13.7 million to back up Carson Wentz.
Heck, these very Chicago Bears paid $14 million to have Mike Glennon be the backup to a rookie Trubisky. If the Bears can pay $14 million for Glennon to be a backup, they can surely pay $15 million for Foles to take on the same role.
When looking at the Bears cap situation, Kyle Long and Prince Amukamara headline names that will create more than enough space to add Foles’ salary.
Financially the Jags save money in the short and long term, and the Bears can afford the deal as well.
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.
2. Taking the role of backup
As mentioned, paying $15 million for a backup is not preposterous. This is likely what Chicago is going to do. Ryan Pace is a confident GM. He believes in his evaluation and believes in Mitch Trubisky. With that in mind, he is not going to give up on him.
Trubisky is going to start Week One for the Bears. The question is, can he last the whole year? Last season, the Bears had nowhere to turn as Chase Daniel presents no upside. This year, they need a backup plan just in case Trubisky remains his 2019 version.
Foles is perfect for this situation. As mentioned, he is comfortable with the coaches, and the coaches rave about him as a person more than as a player. He will be very helpful with the offense and in the meeting rooms.
Foles has also been a backup for years. He knows who he is and is not trying to be more than that. He knows that if he gets called upon, he is confident in his game. However, as a backup, his job is to not only be ready but help the starter.
Foles has helped Carson Wentz through multiple years. He never pushed Wentz and knew his role as the backup but was always ready to step in if needed. The same can be said last year with Gardner Minshew. He helped the rookie grow.
Foles knows how to be a backup. He would go into camp with a clearly defined role and would create an environment to help Trubisky, rather than start a controversy that hurts everyone.
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Experience to win
As mentioned in the last point, Foles is the backup but can step in and win. He has proven that much. Foles made a run at the Super Bowl as a backup and even beat the Chicago Bears in Chicago as a backup who stepped in for an injured starter.
So do not think of Foles as the answer to all the Bears problems. Think of him as an insurance policy.
If there is one player who could step in and take over this team for the final half of season and help them compete for the playoffs, who else would you trust? We have seen Foles do it. The Bears can let Trubisky start in 2020 and see where he takes them. If he stalls and they are sitting at 2-4 like the Titans were with Mariota, it would be time to move on. If anyone could win seven of his last ten games off of the bench, it would be Foles. He has done this before.
The Bears are not ready to give up on Trubisky, and to be fair; he deserves time. However, they cannot let this year go by with another wasted season because of their investment at quarterback. Foles is the perfect hedge to all Trubisky bets.
He will not cost too much, and the Bears can justify bringing him as a backup for one season to evaluate things. As the days get closer to the start of the 2020 offseason, it seems more and more apparent that Foles is the perfect fit for Chicago.