The Jacksonville Jaguars trade Nick Foles to the Chicago Bears
By David Levin
The Jacksonville Jaguars usher in Minshew Mania on a full-time basis in North Florida.
The Nick Foles era in Jacksonville has come to an end after one season. The Jaguars announced earlier today they have traded the veteran quarterback to the Chicago Bears for a 2020 fourth-round draft pick and will pick up $18.75M of Foles’ 2020 contract.
The move saves the Jaguars around $4M for the season. It also opens the door to move forward with Gardner Minshew as the starter here in DUUUVAL.
There had been plenty of rumors swirling since the beginning of “legal tampering” in free agency that the Jaguars were listening to offers for Foles, who signed with the team one year ago last week to replace Blake Bortles under center. Many within the front office and organization, including team owner Shad Khan and then vice-president of football operations Tom Coughlin, thought Foles was the missing link to the offense.
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The addition of John DeFilippo as the team’s offensive coordinator last offseason was part of the lure to bring Foles to Jacksonville from Philadelphia where he captured a Super Bowl ring in 2017.
Now, the team is part of the Minshew era, and the mania surrounding the second-year starting quarterback will continue to rally the fanbase that has been punched in the gut more than a few times this offseason.
"“Foles bought out his contract with Philadelphia for $2 million in February 2019, and the Jaguars signed him to a four-year, $91 million contract with $50.125 million guaranteed,” writes Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com. “At the time, Jaguars owner Shad Khan said the team had dreamed of signing Foles since the 2018 season had ended.”"
Those dreams weren’t fulfilled as Foles played a total of 10-plus quarters in Jacksonville and did not win any of the games he started. To be fair, he missed 9 weeks of the NFL season with a broken clavicle he suffered on the 11th play of the NFL season in 2019.
The move by the Jaguars continues down a path this offseason where high-priced veterans have either been traded or released since February. Marcell Dareus, A.J. Bouye, Calais Campbell, Geoff Swaim, Jake Ryan and now Foles have been cast away for one reason or another. In doing so, the Jaguars have acquired more picks for next month’s NFL Draft in Las Vegas.
Jacksonville currently owns 12 picks in the seven-round selection process. This gives the front office – namely general manager David Caldwell – the ammunition to move up in the draft to help stockpile positions of need.
Now that 2020 league year has officially begun and 2019 contracts have expired, the Jaguars don't have a player on the most current roster (or a reported FA signee) older than 29.
— Michael DiRocco (@ESPNdirocco) March 18, 2020
It may also mean the Jaguars look to find another quarterback in later rounds, much as they did with Minshew who was a sixth-round pick out of Washington State last year.
Foles played in four games in Jacksonville, threw for 736 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. He has a 65.8 completion percentage. The move to the Windy City also reunites Foles with Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy, who was on the Kansas City Chiefs staff while the 31-year-old was a member of the franchise.