Well, this has now gone down exactly as expected. After a report from ESPN’s Tim McManus revealed that the Eagles would exercise Nick Foles’ $20M option, it took under an hour reports of the quarterback voiding it to surface.
As explained in the video below, Nick Foles signed his contract with an intent to control his own destiny after the end of the 2018 season. That’s exactly what this option gave him and Foles plans to enter the free agent market with full control over where his future lies. It makes sense and although the Eagles did try to drum up a market prior to the Super Bowl, Foles clearly wants what’s best for him given the stage of career he is entering.
It’s not over yet, however. The Eagles could always ‘tag-and-trade’ Nick Foles but doing so would cost them roughly $25M and if a deal isn’t worked out, that’s a lot of guaranteed money to be paying a backup quarterback. Not only that, but these kinds of deals very rarely work. In this scenario, that would especially be the case given that the option was given to Foles to give him that freedom. Stripping it away and forcing his hand not only reduces leverage for the Eagles in trade talks but will burn any bridge with a quarterback who will undoubtedly be extremely annoyed that the Eagles went back on their word.
Howie Roseman will have to think long and hard before franchise tagging the Super Bowl 52 MVP.
