MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

Report: Nick Foles informing Eagles he is voiding option...



Not long after a report came out that the Eagles have informed Nick Foles they are exercising the $20 million option on his contract comes word that the quarterback is informing the Eagles he is voiding the option, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.

Both moves were expected, with Foles paying the team $2 million to buy back his freedom.

The Eagles now can place the franchise tag on the backup quarterback in hopes of trading him. The franchise tag for quarterbacks is expected to be around $25 million for next season, with the window for use of the tag opening Feb. 19.

Foles must sign the tag for the Eagles to trade him.

The price for Foles is expected to be around the third round, Schefter reports.

By placing the franchise tag on Foles and seeking a trade, the Eagles control where Foles ends up. The Giants and Washington both likely enter the offseason in the market for a quarterback. So Philadelphia can keep Foles from ending up with an NFC East rival. (PFT)

 

Eagles’ apparent tag-and-trade plan for Nick Foles would violate the CBA...



With the contract dance between the Eagles and quarterback Nick Foles already progressing to the point at which the final decision rests in the hands of the team, the player needs to take full advantage of his leverage. And he has plenty.

With the Eagles apparently hoping to tag and trade Foles, Foles and his representatives should be prepared to counter any attempt to block his path to the open market, either by persuading the Eagles not to do it or by challenging the effort, or both.

First, Foles should take the position that, if the Eagles apply the franchise tag, he’ll immediately accept it, putting him under contract for 2019 at roughly $25 million, fully guaranteed. That’s cash and cap dollars that will apply to Foles on the Eagles’ books, unless and until Foles is traded. Foles also should make it clear that he won’t be signing a long-term deal, with the Eagles or anyone else. That would make it much harder to trade him, since his new team would be stepping into a Kirk Cousins-style conundrum, which would entail Foles costing $25 million for 2019 and, if tagged again, $30 million for 2020.

That could be enough to scare away any team that believes it will parlay a trade for Foles into a long-term deal, especially if the team wants to pay less than $55 million over the first two years. In turn, that could persuade the Eagles not to tag Foles in the first place.

Second, Foles and his agents should challenge the franchise tag, if it’s applied. Article 4, Section 8, subsection (b) of the Collective Bargaining Agreement states as follows: “A Club extending a Required Tender must, for so long as that Tender is extended, have a good faith intention to employ the player receiving the Tender at the Tender compensation level during the upcoming season.” If the Eagles would simply be tagging Foles to trade him, Foles should invoke this provision and fight the tag, via an expedited grievance that would be resolved before the start of free agency.

What could the Eagles say in response? Whatever it is, Foles should force them to try to come up with something other than what their strategy for the tag would apparently be: A placeholder aimed at getting the Eagles a draft pick now instead of a compensatory pick later. If the Eagles attempt with the straight face to argue that this isn’t the plan, Foles should use this ESPN report as the starting point for a scorched-earth effort to review text messages and emails to determine whether and to what extent the Eagles have spoken to other teams about a tag and trade.

Yes, the Eagles have the right under the rules to tag Foles. But unless they truly intend to employ Foles at the amount of the tag for 2019, they’re abusing the rules. Is that how the Eagles should be showing gratitude to the quarterback who delivered the team’s only Super Bowl championship?

That’s a question Foles and his agents should be asking now, as the Eagles finalize their strategy. With so many people seemingly accepting the idea that the Eagles have every right to tag and trade Foles, the sooner Foles and his agents make sure everyone realizes that: (1) the strategy isn’t appropriate; and (2) Foles will fight it, the more likely the Eagles will possibly decide to do the right thing and let Foles hit the open market. (PFT)

 

Vikings' Kirk Cousins ready to 'make amends' for 2018...

The Minnesota Vikings imported Kirk Cousins in hopes the quarterback would get them over the hump and into the Super Bowl. Instead, the team regressed, missing the postseason completely.

Cousins understands the disappointment in his first season in Minnesota. When asked last week on the Dan Patrick Show if he considered the year a success, the signal-caller was blunt.

"The short answer is no," Cousins said, via Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "We didn't make the playoffs. There were high expectations and we didn't deliver, and so I've been frustrated since the season ended."

Despite the propensity to flounder in primetime games, Cousins put up better numbers than Case Keenum did in a similar situation the previous year. Cousins finished with 4,298 passing yards (10th in the NFL) and 30 TDs to 10 INTs, while being sacked 40 times behind a porous offensive line.

Yet, the inability of the $84 million QB to raise the talent level around him to new heights continues to haunt Cousins.

"I wish the 2019 season started tomorrow," he said. "I'm ready to go and make amends for 2018. It's been frustrating to know I have to sit here for whatever it is, seven or eight months before we get back at it.

"It has been a tough January for me. I haven't been sleeping well, that kind of a thing, because, yeah, it just left a bad taste in my mouth the way the season finished up." (NFL.com)

 

Someone tried to tell me that Foles is the most overrated QB in the league. I told him he can come back to me after he acknowledges Cousins is more so.

 

I agree. I hope Cousins can adapt and rise to the occasion, but right now he certainly is overrated, especially in comparison to what Foles has achieved.

 

Cousins will be 31 at the start of the 2019 season - he is what he is at this point. His record in prime time games is terrible, and his record against teams with a winning record is even worse.

 

Joe Flacco’s stats have been below average for four straight years...

It’s been a long time since Joe Flacco played like an elite quarterback.

Flacco, who will be traded from the Ravens to the Broncos, has had below-average numbers for four consecutive years. Here’s how Flacco’s passer rating compares to the league average passer rating in each of the last four seasons:

2018: Flacco 84.2, NFL average 92.9.
2017: Flacco 80.4, NFL average 86.9.
2016: Flacco 83.5, NFL average 89.3.
2015: Flacco 83.1, NFL average 90.2.

Only two quarterbacks in the NFL have thrown 300 or more passes and had a below-average passer rating each of the last four seasons: Blake Bortles and Flacco.

Broncos General Manager John Elway has spent a long time looking for another franchise quarterback after Peyton Manning’s retirement, and he still hasn’t found one. If Flacco is finally going to be the answer, he’s going to have to play a whole lot better than he has the last four years. (PFT)
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Sometimes a change in scenery can be just what the doctor ordered... It will be real interesting to see how he does in Denver.

 

Maybe elways plan is to make sure he keeps all the broncos qb records

 

What were the terms of the trade? Denver is giving up what to get him? And what's Flacco's contract that they're taking on?

Sorry for the questions and ignorance - haven't paid a lick of attention to this. It feels like an... uninspiring move, to say the least.

 

It hasn't been leaked. They aren't allowed to comment until the new league year, it's just been reported a mid-round pick....presumably one of their 4th rounders.

 

Think I read that it's the first of their two fourth rounders.

 

Per, SB Nation...

It’s a pretty good situation for Flacco, who will keep the contract extension he signed with the Baltimore Ravens in 2016. He’s due to collect $18.5 million in base salary for the 2019 season and even more in 2020 and 2021.

 

Pat Shurmur “fully expects” Eli Manning back in 2019...



Giants General Manager Dave Gettleman stopped well short of committing to Eli Manning as the team’s 2019 quarterback when he spoke to the media at the end of the 2018 season.

Gettleman will speak to reporters from the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis and we may have gotten a preview of what he’s going to say during head coach Pat Shurmur’s media session. Shurmur said he wants Manning on the team and “fully expects” Manning to be on the team this year.

“I think Eli has proven he can win games,” Shurmur said.

The Giants’ 8-24 record over the last two seasons has led others to feel otherwise and Manning is moving closer to the end of the line under any circumstances, so the Giants may still look to the future and pick a quarterback in the draft this year. Gettleman will likely be asked about that as well, but it sounds like it would be a surprise if any move they make results in Manning being thrown overboard.

 

Well...the Birds are now $6 mil under the cap.

 

Howie Roseman: Eagles still deciding on Carson Wentz’s backup...

Carson Wentz will be the Eagles’ starting quarterback this season. Nick Foles will be elsewhere. So who will back Wentz up?

Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman said on PFT Live that he hasn’t decided yet: Nate Sudfeld has a chance to earn that job, but the Eagles are also going to look at the quarterback market and see who they can bring in.

“Nate’s a guy that when he signed he had an opportunity to learn behind Carson and Nick and he’s made incredible progress as our scout team quarterback, as someone who has been the backup when Carson got hurt and we didn’t bring back someone else,” Roseman said. “But this is also a position we continue to invest in. We’ve got great quarterback teachers. It would be a disservice to our franchise if we didn’t continue to look at every quarterback option as well.”

Wentz and Sudfeld are the only two quarterbacks on the Eagles’ roster once Foles officially becomes a free agent on March 13, so Philadelphia will certainly add one or two quarterbacks to be there in the offseason. Whether one of them can beat out Sudfeld to back up Wentz remains to be seen, but given Wentz’s injury history it’s fair to assume that the Eagles want someone they can count on to be the No. 2 quarterback on the depth chart. (PFT)

 

Kyler Murray says he’s ready to go wherever he’s drafted...

Quarterback Kyler Murray is so committed to football that he’s committed to embracing whichever team selects him in the 2019 draft.

“At the end of this, it’s an opportunity to go play football,” Murray told reporters on Friday. “Wherever I land, they’re getting a guy that loves this game and is ready to go. I’m a winner. I think that’s where my mind’s at.”

He said that his mind isn’t on being the first quarterback drafted.

“I’m not going into it with any expectations of if this guy goes before me, I’m going to be upset,” Murray said. “No, I’m going to be happy wherever I go.”

Murray apparently would be extra happy to go to the Giants, the team that holds the sixth pick in the draft and that keeps referring to the Kansas City model, a reference to the decision to draft a quarterback now, ride with the veteran starter for one more year, and then flip the switch to the new guy.

“If that was the case, I would love to be in that situation,” Murray said regarding the possibility of being drafted by the Giants. “I’d love to be in New York. But at the end of the day, like I said, I don’t pick myself.”

That’s a reality common to all incoming NFL draft picks. The difference for Murray, however, comes from the fact that he has a very real option: He can choose to play baseball, regardless of whether he’s currently saying that he has closed that door for good. (PFT)

 

Report: Raiders are shopping Derek Carr...

Well, now the offseason is getting interesting.

Master Tesfatsion of Bleacher Report reports that the Raiders were shopping quarterback Derek Carr at the Scouting Combine.

While few players are unshoppable (Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield, Aaron Donald, maybe Deshaun Watson), it’s not currently believed that the Raiders have serious interest in trading Carr.

As one source with knowledge of the situation remarked in response to the report, the Raiders had better have a quarterback in place before shopping the one they have. It’s also believed that coach Jon Gruden “loves” Carr.

Carr has $20 million in compensation due this year. His salary became fully guaranteed the week after the Super Bowl. Trading him would result in a cap charge of $7.5 million for 2019, and he’d be off the books in 2020.

It’s possible that the Raiders have a wink-nod deal in place with a looming free agent, who would replace Carr. Signing a veteran would mesh much more cleanly with Gruden’s style, and it wouldn’t be a shock to see him make a run at someone like Nick Foles or Ryan Fitzpatrick, possibly with a young quarterback learning behind them.

Absent a viable alternative to Carr, however, the Raiders likely wouldn’t trade him. And the Raiders wouldn’t sign an alternative to Carr unless the Raiders knew that they could unload Carr’s $20 million from the payroll. (PFT)

 

Report: Jaguars expected to sign Nick Foles...

The moment General Manager Howie Roseman announced the Eagles wouldn’t use the franchise tag on Nick Foles, the Jaguars became the favorites to land the quarterback in free agency. Alas, it appears Foles is headed to Jacksonville.

Les Bowen of philly.com reports a market for Foles “outside of Jacksonville has not developed” and the Jaguars “absolutely expect” to sign the former Super Bowl MVP when free agency opens March 13.


With the Jaguars as the only bidder, Foles might not get a contract that makes him among the highest-paid at his position, according to Bowen.

Washington, the Giants and Miami were thought to be other possible landing spots for Foles.

Foles, 30, went 4-1 in the postseason the past two seasons and 6-2 in the regular season in place of Carson Wentz the past two seasons. (PFT)
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That's huge for the Jags...

 

Blake Bortles will be a Ram...



The man who Chris Simms says wasn’t on earth to throw a football will be not throwing a football, ideally, in L.A.

Blake Bortles is finalizing a deal to become the backup quarterback of the Rams, according to Jeff Darlington of ESPN.com.

Bortles, the third overall pick in the 2014 draft, was cut last week by the Jaguars, a year after the team gave him a three-year contract. In L.A., he’ll replace Sean Mannion as the No. 2 quarterback behind Jared Goff, the first overall pick in 2016.

Bortles had 4,428 passing yards in 2015, but many of those numbers came after the Jaguars had fallen far behind in games and defenses had softened. In 2017, he took the Jaguars to the AFC Championship, where the Jags blew a 10-point fourth-quarter lead against the Patriots. (PFT)