The Philadelphia Eagles made news on Tuesday by exercising the $20 million option on Nick Foles’ contract for next season. In turn, the former Super Bowl winner opted out of his contract — deciding to pay back $2 million of his 2018 signing bonus.
In no way does this mean Foles is simply going to walk in free agency next month. Philadelphia is now likely going to place the franchise tag on Foles in hopes of trading him.
According to this report from NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero, executives around the league believe that the Eagles will receive a third-round pick in return for Foles.
A lot of moving parts to a potential Nick Foles trade, but several NFL executives I spoke to today pegged compensation at roughly a 3rd-round pick for the #Eagles, who’d like to control where he ends up. @nflnetwork @NFLTotalAccess pic.twitter.com/XNfwKbrEvm
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 7, 2019
Even more so than picking up a mid-round pick for the backup quarterback, franchising Foles would enable the Eagles to trade him outside of the NFC East.
If he were to hit free agency, the quarterback-needy Washington Redskins would likely come calling.
The franchise tag value for a quarterback next season will be roughly $25 million. Any team making a trade for Foles would then likely look to sign him to a long-term deal.
Among the teams that have shown preliminary interest in Foles, the Jacksonville Jaguars could make sense. They are set to move on from longtime starter Blake Bortles here in the next couple weeks.