Before I get started here, I would like to restate two obvious matters to the fans. 1: I hope That QB Carson Wentz returns to his 2017 MVP form and remains healthy this season, and every season of his career. 2: I do believe that while both QBs are studs in Philadelphia’s offense that Carson Wentz is the better player and better fit, however, it is pretty damn close. Ok, now lets dive in.Â
1: MVP level QB Carson Wentz has had a few injuries during the last season and a half. QB Carson Wentz has had trouble staying healthy in all but one year of his NFL career in Philadelphia. While he looks really healthy now his extremely rough and rugged playing style will cause fans to hold their collective breath at least a few times during every game he plays in. When one hundred percent healthy he gives The Philadelphia Eagles the best chance to win, but if he were to suffer a third season-ending injury I do believe The Eagles Brass would prefer to swing a mid-season trade for QB Nick Foles than rely entirely on the talented but green young current backup QB Nate Sudfeld. I believe that Suds will have a very good NFL career, but on a football team that is built to win now Foles is the better insurance policy. In other words Foles>Sudfeld
2: Nick Foles has really struggled outside of Philadelphia. I am making a gross understatement when I say that former Eagles Super Bowl 52 MVP QB Nick Foles has had an amazing amount of success with The Eagles. He helped the Philadelphia Eagles win their very first Super Bowl Title during the 2017-2018 season, and sparked an unlikely trip to the playoffs for The Eagles again last season. A former third-round pick by Philadelphia in the 2010 NFL Draft Foles has to lead The Philadelphia Eagles to the playoffs three times obviously winning a Super Bowl ring during one of those seasons. He made the Pro Bowl in 2012 when he posted a 27 TD to 2 INT ratio. Despite his success with the team Former
Eagles Head Coach Chip Kelly foolishly traded him to the Rams in exchange for QB Sam Bradford. He returned to The Eagles as a Free Agent in 2017 on a 2-year deal to back up Carson Wentz, and well you know the rest. That being said Foles has not played well outside of Philly. In his one and only season as the then St. Louis Rams he went 4-11 as the starter and threw 7 TD passes to 10 INTs. Even a good amount of Jacksonville Jaguars fans aren’t as happy with his arrival as one would think. They seem to be focusing on his terrible 2015 season with the Rams. It was so bad in fact that Nick Foles nearly retired. Thank God his wife Lori talked him into giving the NFL another shot as my Eagles would not have a Super Bowl Ring without his amazing play in Super Bowl 52 against the cheating Patriots of old boring England. Foles returned to the NFL as a Backup for The Kansas City Chiefs, before returning to the team that drafted him in 2017.
3)The Jacksonville Jaguars have about a third of the offensive talent that Foles has grown accustomed to playing with over the last couple of years. The Philadelphia Eagles are completely loaded on offense, while the Jags…not so much. They have a pretty good RB in Leonard Fournette and a decent WR in second-year WR Dede Westbrook and a slightly above average line…after that there is really not much else to get all that excited about. Rookie WR D.J. Chark has some talent but is also a rookie who lacks top-end speed…think Jordan Matthews…a good WR, but not great by any means. Meanwhile In Philadelphia Foles was throwing to Pro Bowl WR Alshon Jeffery, talented young TE Dallas Goedert who is an athletic freak, talented slot man WR Nelson Agholor, and the ageless scatback RB Darren Sproles. These players are simply top tier playmakers and the WRs are downfield threats which plays to Nick Foles biggest strength. Not to mention the pocket passer was throwing behind arguably the best Oline in the NFL. This way before The Eagles traded for Desean Jackson who is still the fastest WR in the NFL and added a pair of talented RBs in Jordan Howard via trade and Miles Sanders via the draft. There could be a significant drop off in Foles play due to his current supporting cast no matter how good Jacksonville’s defense is. I think Eagles Head Coach Doug Pederson gets the most of any coach from these plays and don’t think that will change anytime soon.
4) Foles has become very used to playing in the West Coast Offense in both Philadelphia, K.C., and Philadelphia again. This offense is very likely best suited for him. The Eagles offense is tailor-made to the skills of Nick Foles. The offense warms the QB up with a quick shotgun formation where the QB is first asked to make short to intermediate throws. Once The QBs arms warmed up The Eagles like to go deep.
The deep ball is Foles best throw. The Eagles also have a talented three-headed rushing attack with the RBs previously listed to open up play-action passes. I’m not sure that the Jags will be able to do much of the same if at all. Foles may actually become frustrated with The Jags run-first style of play. Lastly, the Eagles incorporate a lot of RPOs (Run pass option plays) where the QB has the option of either throwing or handing the football of based on what they are seeing from opposing defenses. Foles may be the best RPO QB in the NFL. It’s a part of The Eagles offense that he ran to perfection. I expect the Jags offense to attempt to replicate this as much as they can, but how well can it work In Florida?
5) These are now two football teams that have ties beyond Nick Foles as new Jaguars OC John Defilippo was The Eagles QB coach during The Eagles Super bowl Run In 2017. The fact that Fipp is now the OC in Jacksonville could be very good for Foles. It also means that if Foles starts to play like he seemingly always does outside of Philadelphia that Fipp and GM Howie Roseman could very easily work out a trade if something were to happen to QB Carson Wentz during the course of the season. Quite honestly if Foles doesn’t play well for the Jaguars, and Carson Wentz is healthy and playing lights out football I still wouldn’t be too surprised If Eagles GM Howie Roseman swung a midseason trade for one of the best if not the best backup QB in the NFL for a mid to late-round pick. It’s a trade that would benefit both teams in that situation. Us Eagles fans would love to have Foles back, even if it is just to watch (hopefully) QB Carson Wentz hoist his first Lombardi Trophy for The Birds. (Technically his second, but you know he didn’t play in the big game quite obviously.)
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