Nick Foles has become an afterthought in Chicago. This offseason, the Bears signed veteran QB Andy Dalton and promptly anointed him as the starter. Then, they made a bold move up the draft board last night to select Ohio State signal-caller Justin Fields, who will be groomed to be the long-term solution under center the team has been seeking for decades.
That leaves Foles on the outside looking in, unless for some reason the Bears think Fields might not be ready to be Dalton’s backup. However, moving on from Foles could be easier said than done.
As Darryl Slater of NJ.com observes (via Twitter), Foles still has prorated signing bonus charges totaling $5.3MM over the next two seasons, to go along with $5MM in guaranteed salary. Cutting him, at least prior to June 1, would result in a greater dead cap charge than the $6.66MM hit that he is scheduled to carry in 2021. So a trade makes more sense, since the acquiring team would have to take on the salary obligations.
Both Brian Costello of the New York Post and Connor Hughes of The Athletic (Twitter link) believe Foles would be a great fit for the Jets. New York, of course, drafted BYU passer Zach Wilson with the No. 2 overall pick in the draft, and while the club obviously has high hopes for him, there is presently no QB on the roster that has thrown a pass in a regular season game. The team has looked into signing Brian Hoyer, but if the price is right, GM Joe Douglas — who is familiar with Foles from his days in Philadelphia — might prefer to add the former Super Bowl MVP.
In related news, the Bears did speak with the Panthers about moving up to Carolina’s No. 8 overall pick to grab Fields, according to Joe Person of The Athletic (Twitter link). The Panthers stayed put and selected Jaycee Horn, but Chicago got its guy three picks later by acquiring the Giants’ No. 11 overall selection.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
