Denver Broncos rumors: Quarterback options coming into focus
Nick Foles, Eagles
We know John Elway likes to win football games. It’s highly unlikely he’s interested in watching his team struggle through another season and thinking about the NFL Draft while other teams (especially two division rivals) are preparing for playoff games.
Elway knows the pressure is on in Denver which is why he fired Vance Joseph despite the poor quarterback play in Denver, a responsibility that ultimately falls on the master builder of the team.
Elway’s inability to identify quarterback talent properly through the NFL Draft is well documented, and one player he passed on is potentially available — for a cost — this offseason.
Nick Foles is one of two Super Bowl MVP quarterbacks from the 2012 NFL Draft class, the same class in which Elway used a second-round selection on Brock Osweiler.
Foles’ career on teams that did not include Jeff Fisher as his head coach have been wildly prosperous, even as a backup.
If you look at Foles’ numbers without his 11 games as a member of the St. Louis Rams, it’s hard not to be impressed.
With the Eagles (five years) and Chiefs (one season), Foles has completed 64.2 percent of his passes for 9,113 yards, 61 touchdowns, and 23 interceptions. If you add his playoff numbers in with those, he’s completed 65.5 percent of his passes with 72 touchdowns and 28 interceptions.
He’s also got a famous touchdown catch.
Three years ago the idea of adding Foles to the Broncos’ roster would have been sickening to me, but right now, it seems pretty appealing. Foles and the Eagles couldn’t get it done in this year’s playoffs, but he is the reigning Super Bowl MVP at the time of this writing and has proven himself to be a clutch player at the position, engineering six game-winning drives over the past two seasons.
Because of the fact that Foles helped to deliver Philadelphia its first Super Bowl title in team history, he will likely have a say in where he goes via trade this offseason and the Broncos could be an option if they don’t fall in love with anyone in the 2019 NFL Draft crop.
Though Foles has a $20 million cap hit in 2019, he would undoubtedly understand that any team acquiring him would need to re-work his contract in order to facilitate a trade.
The Eagles would understand that Foles’ contract guarantees fully on March 18, and that will diminish their leverage in trade negotiations.
The Broncos have an extra fourth-round pick in this year’s draft, and if Foles wants to go to Denver, that should be enough to get it done.