Yesterday, an old friend of Philadelphia was back in the news. Super Bowl winning QB Nick Foles agreed to a 2 year deal with the Indianapolis Colts, marking his next move in a series of changes since leaving Philadelphia. Indianapolis seems like a great fit; they have a similar style of QB starting for them in Matt Ryan, and the Colts’ Head Coach Frank Reich was the offensive coordinator in Philly the year of the Super Bowl win. Good for Nick Foles, good for Frank Reich, and good for the Colts. End of story, Eagles fans can move on with their day, right? Wrong. Following the news that Foles had agreed to a deal in Indy, NFL insider Jeremy Fowler tweeted the following, unleashing a flurry of commentary from Eagles fans and media members alike:
The Eagles were involved in Nick Foles’ free agency for a potential reunion of Super Bowl winners before Foles signed his two-year deal the Colts, per source.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) May 23, 2022
Woooooo boy… Just when you think the fan base has finally moved on from the era where the Nick Foles debate was a constant in all of our lives, he’s back again to ask as “How’s everyone doing??”. Maybe it wasn’t fair to call Nick Foles an old friend earlier. Truthfully, he’s more like an ex-lover, the one we could never seem to get over, that no amount of time could ever make us forget. We can pretend all of that is behind us, and we’ve moved on, but in reality, the Philadelphia fan base will never move on in totality from Nick Foles until he no longer plays the game of football. That is why it is an absolutely terrible idea to even consider bringing him back to this organization.
Think about the current state of the franchise. The Eagles have a young QB who is trying to prove himself as their franchise QB in Jalen Hurts. He has shown promise, but has not fully taken the reins yet, meaning that a portion of the fan base is very questioning of his ability to play QB for this team. It is a precarious position for Hurts, and bringing in the most beloved player in franchise history to back him up, even if it would have been 3rd string behind Gardner Minshew, creates a potential coup situation. Not necessarily in the locker room; it’s been made very clear that other players on the team love Jalen Hurts. The issue would be the fan base, and even more troubling, the owner/GM.
Yes, Hurts seems unflappable. He is one of the more stoic athletes in Philadelphia history, so I can understand why the natural argument is that even Nick Foles vying for his job couldn’t raise his heart rate. It’s not about Hurts, though. No quarterback, not just Jalen Hurts, is perfect, and any mistake would have part of the fan base calling for Foles to start instead. Owner Jeffrey Lurie, who is very tuned in to his fan base, could certainly be affected by those sentiments, and Howie Roseman, who is always searching for a better option, especially at QB, could oblige the calls for a change. Nick Foles, who hasn’t been a successful quarterback since 2018, is not worth causing that type of drama. It is not necessary to force-feed the fan base Jalen Hurts, but with the multiple high draft picks available in the 2023 NFL draft for the Eagles, they already have their insurance plan. Bringing in Nick Foles was, is, and from this point forward always will be a bad idea for this franchise. It is no fault of Nick’s, but this city can no longer rationally evaluate him. That makes him untouchable.