Jaguars, tired of whiffing on drafting QBs, set to turn to Nick Foles

According to multiple reports, the Jacksonville Jaguars are expected to sign quarterback Nick Foles once free agency begins on March 13. By going for a 30-year-old veteran, the Jags are signaling they believe they’re well within a championship window and might be just a steady hand under center away from securing the franchise’s first title.

In pursuit of that, they’re reportedly landing a quarterback who helped another franchise to its first Super Bowl title, doing so by outshining Tom Brady in a game in which Brady threw for 505 yards and three touchdowns. Those are no small feats, but it’s fair to look at Foles' overall track record and wonder whether he can do it all again.

From an organizational standpoint, it makes sense that the Jags are willing to go with an at least somewhat established veteran for the next few seasons, and it eliminates the time-consuming task of developing a rookie passer — the Jaguars have not had great luck exploring that route in the last few attempts. Neither Blaine Gabbert nor Blake Bortles, both top 10 picks, developed into franchise quarterbacks for any sustained amount of time.

Bortles has long been a convenient scapegoat, and to be sure, he backslid quite a bit in 2018. But he wasn’t the only issue. The vaunted Jacksonville defense regressed slightly, and the offensive line struggled for large portions of the season. It’s not quite clear that plugging Foles into this past year’s team would have magically fixed everything.

There's also the concern that Foles has yet to have success outside of Philadelphia. Given that his two successful stays were under separate Eagles regimes, that’s almost certainly happenstance. The Philly teams of 2013 and 2017 were drastically different enough that they might as well have been different franchises.

Still, it gets at a larger point: that Foles has not had sustained success in the NFL. His outstanding 2013 season was followed by a relatively mediocre one as the bloom came off the rose in the Chip Kelly era. An unremarkable year as starter for the Jeff Fisher Rams was next, and by 2016 he was mulling retirement before reuniting with Andy Reid as a backup in Kansas City.

Foles has the ring and the credibility that goes with it. Still, the overall résumé shows only one full season of strong play, a mere 28 starts in the last five regular seasons and a just OK postseason follow-up to 2017’s wondrous run. Foles has proved himself worthy of the opportunity, but that doesn’t mean it's unfair to question whether he can put it together for more than a little bit at a time.

The Jags hired former Eagles quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo in January to run their offense this coming season. After a bit of a disastrous stint as offensive coordinator in Minnesota in 2018, he’ll likely be as happy to see Foles as the quarterback will be to have a familiar face in his first real crack in years at being the default starter.

The exact investment Jacksonville will make with Foles might tip its hand about what else it intends to do. Reportedly, the free agent market for Foles has not been particularly robust, especially after the Broncos dealt for Joe Flacco in a trade. It’s not unheard of for a team to nab a backup as a stopgap starter and then take a quarterback high in the draft. Look what happened with Mike Glennon in Chicago a few years ago. For what it’s worth, when Jalen Ramsey learned of the likely Foles signing, his reaction was that the team still needs to draft another passer.

That would be a shame, as Foles has done enough to earn at least one season where he goes in as the unquestioned starter. If he signs with Jacksonville, he’ll likely get it, and Jacksonville gets a passer who’s more careful with the football and has been where it'd like to go. No one knows how it’ll turn out, but for both sides it makes a lot of sense.