Philadelphia Eagles: Howie Roseman did the right thing

After flirting with a tag and trade for months, Howie Roseman did the right thing by allowing Nick Foles to leave the Philadelphia Eagles in free agency.

After months of speculation, and literally hundreds of articles on the subject, Nick Foles‘ fate has finally been decided: Philadelphia Eagles are letting him walk in free agency.

Now I know to some this is an almost heartbreaking development, as Foles has captured the hearts of fans in and around the City of Brotherly Love in a way very few football players have this decade, but after playing second banana to Carson Wentz for two seasons, it looks like ‘Saint Nick’ will finally be afforded a chance to helm his own team in what could be his final big NFL contract.

And in my humble opinion, Howie Roseman did the right thing.

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Granted, will this opinion age well if he signs with, say, the Washington Redskins or New York Giants and transform said team into a legitimate championship contender? Probably not, but no matter what Foles’ future holds, by allowing him to make his own decision moving forward, the Eagles have done their guy good.

Sure, it would have been nice to trade Foles to a contender and get back a solid piece, my favorite hypothetical trade involved shipping him to Jacksonville for Leonard Fournette, but by effectively holding the Super Bowl MVP hostage, the Eagles would have garnered much more ill well than any value garnered in a deal.

While the National Football League is hardly as player-driven as the NBA, players still watch what’s going on, and when they see a player like Foles, who gave this city has all effectively being held hostage to procure a mid-level asset it could set an ugly precedent.

“Why sign with the Eagles if Roseman is just going to tag you and ship you to a team you’ve no interest in joining?”

Is that line of thinking accurate? Probably not, but who’s to say some promising free agent (or their agent) may not look at the situation and feel such a way?

By allowing Foles to walk, and effectively choose his own destiny, Roseman now looks like a good guy; the kind of guy players want to play for.

There’s value in that perception.

There’s also value in the compensatory third-round pick the Eagles will all but certainly receive next spring when Foles signs a big-money deal to play elsewhere in March.

While it would have been nice to receive that pick this year, which is a big reason why the Eagles flirted with the idea of a franchise-and-trade scenario, a pick is a pick, and getting it one year earlier simply isn’t worth the added stress of potentially violating the CBA and having to undergo an investigation as to whether or not Foles can, in fact, be franchised with the sole purpose of making a trade.

Now the Eagles most pressing decision will involve who why deem a worthy successor to back up Wentz moving forward, as they still have to employ an upper-echelon reserve due to ‘Bismarck Bullet’ well-documented injury history.

Who knows, maybe they’ll make a trade to acquire to Case Keenum from the Denver Broncos, as he’s presently on the outs following the acquisition of Joe Flacco (more on that here)?

Next. Michael Crabtree could be worth the risk for Philadelphia Eagles. dark

But no matter what the Philadelphia Eagles decide to do moving forward, it’s nice to know that they did the right thing in regards to Nick Foles. After giving this city everything he had, Howie Roseman should be commended for returning the favor going into the 2019 NFL calendar year.

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