Nick Foles Should Be a Starter Next Season.
Quarterback is the most evalauted and discussed postion in the leauge. They are the face of the team, and the leader of the offense. Every team dreams of finding a franchise quarterback and having him lead them to a Super Bowl victory.
Well, the Philadelphia Eagles just won a Super Bowl even after losing their “franchise” guy as Nick Foles stepped in and delivered when his team needed him most. While doing so, he proved that he is a more than capable quarterback worthy of our respect.
To win a title in this league you don’t need a Matt Ryan or Tom Brady. The Ravens proved that earlier this decade and now the Eagles have done the same thing. To further exemplify this point, here are some Super Bowl winning quarterbacks and the stats they put up in the big game: Tom Brady, 16/27 145 yards and a touchdown, Trent Dilfer, 12/25 153 yards and a touchdown, Ben Roethlisberger, 9/21 123 yards and 2 interceptions, Peyton Manning 13/23 141 yards and an interception.
Now, yes you can say these guys were driven by defense in said games, which is a fair arguemnt. Nick Foles, however, just won a Super Bowl in a game which the Eagles defense surrendered over 600 yards and 33 points. The Eagles didn’t win this game in spite of their backup quarterback, but becuase of him. Foles posted a stat line of 28/43 for 373 yards and 4 total touchdowns with one interception in route to Super Bowl MVP.
Make no mistake, Nick Foles is a good quarterback that deserves a starting job in this leauge.
In 2013 Nick Foles was a pro bowl quarterback, posting the league leading passer rating, a seven touchdown game against the raiders, and a 27–2 touchdown to interception ratio. In 2014 there was regression; he would suffer a broken collarbone in week 9 ending his season. It was a forgetable season at that as he posted a 13–10 TD-INT ratio. It wasn’t all bad though; in Week 8 he set the franchise record for completions in a game (36), and was on pace to throw for over 4000 yards.
He was then dealt to the St. Louis Rams in the deal that sent Bradford to the Eagles. He inked a 2 year 24 million dollar deal and was expected to become their guy, but things didn’t go as planned and he was later benched in favor of Case Keenum, who didn’t fair any better under Jeff Fisher.
Case Keenum has been very succesful in Minnesotta this year, which makes it appear as it was a coaching problem in LA, not a talent problem.
Foles eventually signed back with Philadelphia. He would remain a backup quarterback until Wentz went down for the Eagles in week 14 of 2017.
Now, one could find themselves making the same assumption that many have,“Nick Foles is a backup for a reason.” Foles, however, is too good of a player to be a back up. The reason for his past failure was scheme.
I’ m not going to lie to you, he is a limited quarterback. However almost every QB has weaknesses. If the scheme is bad, then those weaknesses can be exploited and put on display.
Marcus Mariota, for example, took a heavy step back in year three. The reason is that despite his talent, he couldn’t suceed because the Titans ran a subpar offense that didn’t play to his strenghts.
Matt Ryan struggled for years early in his career with consistency. He wasn’t running an offense that was a good fit for his skills.
Andy Dalton suffers the same fate in many of the same ways; bad play calling, and poor design. However, Dalton has dealt with the same thing that painted Foles as a below average quarterback a few years ago, he doesn’t have enough talent around him.
After the 2015 season Dalton lost two of his top three wide receivers and the Bengals haven’t recovered and replaced those guys.
Well in Foles first stint in Philadelphia he had talent around him, but the Eagles management didn’t equip him with enough talent to surround him, thus he wasn’t succesful. They brought in players that didn’t fit Chip Kelly’s offense so they were doomed from the beginning. With all of that considered, the majority of Foles struggles weren’t becuase he wasn’t good enough, but because he wasn’t put in a position to suceed. With the right coaching and scheme, Foles can excell in the NFL, just like his pro bowl season when he was in an offense that worked for him.
Foles was good when he stepped in this year becuase of genius execution and preparation by Doug Pederson, Frank Reich, and John DeFilippo. The Eagles kept their offense, but worked in the elements that Foles excels in, while removing the parts of that his skill set lacks. Part of what makes him a viable option is the pure arm talent he possesses. He has a high caliber arm and can throw vertically, with touch and power, even if he is off balanced.
He is also a charismatic guy, and a good leader. He isn’t afraid to fail, which helps his confidence on the field.
Foles can make all of the throws, and his skill set was on full display in the Super Bowl. He has the ability to handle pressure, literally and figuratively. Foles also has a decent amount of mobility, enough so that he can run the NFL’s new favorite saying “RPO” effectivly.
He is not the kind of quarterback that can do it on his own. He isn’t going to take over games very often. But put him in the right situation and he can be a very succesful starting quarteback in the NFL.
If someone that has a defense like the Denver Broncos or the Vikings stay quarterback hungry after the free agent quarterbacks find their homes, Foles could be a guy you can add to a team trying to win now, and do just that.
