The Bears brought in both Andy Dalton and Justin Fields this offseason, leaving Nick Foles in an awkward spot. He’s currently getting paid a lot of money for a third-string quarterback, so it’s been thought all offseason that a trade could be logical if the right situation arose.
That may have just happened with the Carson Wentz foot injury in Indianapolis. It’s looking like Wentz may miss a significant chunk of regular season time, and Indy doesn’t have any great options to fill-in right now. Foles happened to speak to the media Monday, and appeared to be angling for a trade to the Colts without outright saying it.
Foles raved about Colts head coach Frank Reich, saying “listen, Frank Reich is one of my favorite, if not favorite, coaches of all time,” (Twitter link via Andrew Siciliano of NFL Network). He revealed that there were already a couple of trade opportunities that came the Bears’ way but said “I don’t want to go to someone I don’t know,” (Twitter link via Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune).
For what it’s worth, veteran NFL reporter Josina Anderson was told the Colts have had no “substantive ‘pt-to-pt’ talks” with the Bears about trading for Foles yet (Twitter link). It seems to be a real possibility and Indy could make it happen but “everybody, including Carson Wentz, would have to be onboard,” Ian Rapoport of NFL Network says (Twitter video link).
Of course, Foles filled in for an injured Wentz during the Eagles’ legendary Super Bowl run while Reich was Philly’s OC, so there’s a lot of history here that could complicate things.
Meanwhile, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets the financial breakdown of what Foles would be owed if acquired in a trade. He’s got a $4M guaranteed salary for 2021. In 2022 he’s got a guaranteed $4M roster bonus with a $4M base salary ($1M of which is guaranteed). Essentially the Colts would have to pay him $4M this year and at least $5M next year if they traded for him. Nothing seems imminent, but we’ll let you know as soon as we hear more.
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