Chicago Bears: How to Solve the Nick Foles problem

The Bears have a problem in the quarterback room and it’s not Fields vs. Dalton, it is the presence of Nick Foles and his $24 million dollar contract. The Bears are on the hook for $6.6 million this season and $10.6 million for the 2022 season. This is an insane amount of money to be paying a third-string quarterback who will, most likely, not see the field for a meaningful snap in Chicago again.

I was personally surprised Foles was not traded on draft day and now the Chicago Bears should be aggressively shopping him to anyone that will listen. The biggest challenge facing the Bears’ front office is finding a team that will give you anything in return for Foles and his contract.

There are probably only two teams in the league that might part with a draft pick for Foles —Indianapolis and the New York Giants. The return will not be great, but it will allow Ryan Pace to unload Foles and his contract.

The Chicago Bears should look to these teams when trading Nick Foles

The Colts are the obvious choice for Foles and he was clear about his feelings in his last press conference.

The Colts are possibly looking for a quarterback after Carson Wentz went down with a foot injury that will require surgery and 5-12 weeks recovery time. Foles has history with both Wentz and head coach Frank Reich that would indicate this could be a good fit for Foles to restart his career. However, Wentz might not be on board with bringing in the guy that replaced him and won a Super Bowl. Foles has made it obvious he does not consider himself a third string talent and would be pushing to keep the starting job if given the opportunity. The other complication is the Colts’ current back up, Jacob Eason. The Colts drafted Eason in 2020 after he had an great 2019 college season at Washington, throwing for 3,132 yards and 23 TDs with only 8 interceptions. Eason also had a very respectable 64.2% completion rate. (Stats per https://www.sports-reference.com/) He has yet to play a snap in the NFL, but the Colts obviously saw something there when they drafted him.  All these factors complicate whether the Colts would even want to bring Foles in and definitely affect what they would be willing to pay for him. A fourth round pick would be an astounding win for Ryan Pace, but most likely would be either a sixth or seventh with Indianapolis taking on 100% of the Foles contract.

The only other possible destination for Foles, in my opinion, would be the New York Giants. Daniel Jones is the current starter with Clayton Thorson and Mike Glennon backing him up. Jones’ performance in New York has been inconsistent at best with only 2,943 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last season.

Nick Foles would give Joe Judge options if Jones does not show improvement this year and also provide veteran experience on the roster. It is also possible that Foles could serve as a bridge quarterback if New York decides to go back to the draft and move on from Jones. The downside for Bears fans is again the potential return. It is unlikely that the Giants would give up anything higher than a sixth-round pick due to the amount of money in Foles’ contract.

As Rob Schwarz, Jr. pointed out earlier, now is the time to move Foles. It doesn’t matter if all Pace can get in return is a sixth or seventh-round pick, it will be worth it to get Foles and his contract out of Chicago.