Denver Broncos: Three quarterbacks Elway absolutely must avoid

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PHILADELPHIA, PA – DECEMBER 23: Quarterback Nick Foles #9 of the Philadelphia Eagles celebrates after throwing a touchdown pass to wide receiver Nelson Agholor #13 (not pictured) against the Houston Texans during the third quarter at Lincoln Financial Field on December 23, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

Nick Foles

There has been a lot of talk about Nick Foles’ availability this offseason and it became much more apparent just how available he will be when he decided he would void the remainder of his contract.

At 6’6”, he has the ideal height that John Elway has typically loved in the past (i.e. Lynch and Osweiler), and he has shown that he can win big games when it counts (hence the reason he has a Super Bowl MVP award in his trophy case), but the Denver Broncos should not look at Foles as their quarterback of the future and here’s why.

At the age of 30, Foles is the same age as current Denver Broncos quarterback Case Keenum and realistically, he has five to six years left before possible retirement.

Outside of one statistical aberration of a season (2013) when Foles threw 27 touchdowns to just 2 interceptions, he has been incredibly average throughout his career. Now doesn’t that sound eerily similar to our current situation?

Taking out the 2013 season (which for what its worth, was incredible), Foles has thrown 41 touchdowns to 31 interceptions and his interception percentage is actually worse than that of Keenums’ career (2.5% to 2.3%).

Furthermore, Foles’ career sack percentage is 5.3% which is just .1% lower than that of Keenum’s (for context, Peyton Manning’s career sack percentage is 3.1%). I don’t know about you but it’s incredibly frustrating watching quarterbacks hold the ball too long and take drive-killing sacks.

Nick Foles’ career numbers may not be bad, but he’s also been known to hold the ball longer than necessary, which is part of the reason why he is as consistent with getting sacked as Keenum is.

The final nail in the coffin for me is the type of money the Super Bowl MVP is going to command on the open market. The Denver Broncos have plenty of other needs and free agent opportunities that could upgrade this team as we noted last week. To spend the majority of that money on another average quarterback will just set Denver back, again.

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