Philadelphia Eagles: Is Nick Foles time in Philly coming to an end?

It appears that the last three games of the 2018 season could be Nick Foles’ final games in a Philadelphia Eagles uniform.

Sunday night, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles will make his third start of the season in relief of Carson Wentz.

Wentz, as we all know, is likely done with for the season with a back injury. Foles, last year’s Super Bowl MVP, will likely start the season’s final three games.

But, will these be Foles’ final three games in an Eagles uniform? Sunday morning, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that Foles will likely be a free agent after this season. Meaning the Eagles will not pick up his option for the 2019 season.

If the Eagles were to pick up Foles’ option for 2019, he would count $20.6 million against the salary cap. That is a lot of money to pay a backup quarterback. But, if the Eagles are really worried about Wentz’s long-term health, then possibly they could work out some kind of restructure with Foles to keep him around.

That latter scenario seems extremely unlikely given the circumstances. Foles won the Super Bowl MVP last season and likely wants to look for a starter’s job elsewhere, and the Eagles owe that opportunity to him. Plus there is no way they pay a backup quarterback over $20 million.

The Eagles kept Foles around this season because they were worried about Wentz, who was just coming off a torn-ACL. Foles counted for $13.6 million against the cap this season, but it was an investment they were willing to make with their franchise quarterback’s health uncertain.

Going forward, Wentz is going to be over 20-months removed from his surgery at the start of next season and the back ailment will be completely healed. Yes, there is always the risk on another injury, but most of the time when your starting quarterback goes down, your team isn’t going anywhere anyway.

Having Foles as an insurance policy has been nice, but there is no point in keeping him around in 2019. The Eagles need to pay Wentz eventually and continue to surround him with talent. Being already tight against the cap, the Eagles can’t afford to pay a backup quarterback over $20 million.

Will there always be injury concerns with Wentz? There will always be worries, but hopefully, it isn’t something that ails him too much going forward. This is a risk the Eagles need to take and hope their franchise quarterback can stay on the field. When Wentz is healthy and on the field, he has shown MVP level upside.

So, it appears that these final three games will be Foles’ final games in an Eagles uniform. With the Eagles out of the playoff picture, you even wonder if they will give Nate Sudfeld a look down the stretch to gauge whether he can be a viable backup going forward.

Foles has had nothing but success in Philadelphia. Going into the Rams games, Foles was 21-11 in an Eagles uniform as a starter, including postseason, and led them to a Super Bowl championship. Regardless of all that, the Eagles need to move forward from Foles, and that means he will not be in the Eagles plans going forward.