News & Info/Headlines
Bears Land Foles Via Trade; Newcomer Will Compete With Trubisky
As Profootballtalk.com's Josh Alper framed it, "This time last year, the Jaguars were celebrating the addition of quarterback Nick Foles as a free agent but the first year of his four-year deal didn’t go as planned."
Foles broke his collarbone in the opener, rookie Gardner Minshew played well and Foles struggled once he was healthy enough to return to action. That’s led the Jaguars to reverse course and part ways with Foles ahead of the 2020 season.
The Bears have agreed to trade a fourth-round pick to Jacksonville in exchange for Foles.
Foles spent 2016 with the Chiefs when Bears head coach Matt Nagy was the team’s offensive coordinator. Bears offensive coordinator Bill Lazor was on the Eagles staff during Foles’ first Philly stint and quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo were on the Philly staff for the second one.
Those relationships may have helped pave the way to a deal that gives the Bears an alternative to Mitch Trubisky as their starting quarterback.
As NFL.com's Nick Shook reminded readers, Trubisky, the former No. 2 overall pick of the 2017 draft, took a noticeable step backward in 2019, throwing seven less touchdowns, barely cracking 3,100 passing yards and finishing with a passer rating of 83, 15.4 points below his career-high mark from 2018. His decision-making slowed down (not in the good way) and his accuracy was so spotty, folks were frequently asking about his health to make sure the struggles weren't caused by an injury.
Chicago struggled mightily on offense as a result, and many seriously questioned the team's future at the position. With Trubisky entering his fourth season, the Bears had to make a decision on his fifth-year option beforehand. With insufficient proof available to convince Chicago's front office he's worth it, the Bears instead went out and got Foles.
Trubisky needs to prove he's not a bust, and he'll have a qualified quarterback (who has a ring) challenging him for his job from the outset. Such an endeavor will now begin with a quarterback competition in training camp. Things just got exciting at signal-caller in Chicago.
For what it's worth, Mike Garafolo said on NFL Network in discussing the deal that Trubisky has the "upper hand" right now for the starting spot. But Garafolo also mentioned the leash is short.
Also worth noting, ESPN's Adam Schefter reports that Foles already has restructured his contract with the Bears. He still has three years left, still has $21 million guaranteed left, but Foles now has the ability to void the deal after either of the first two years depending on his performance.
With Foles trades to Chicago, Jacksonville now hands its starting QB job to Minshew.
And ESPN.com's Mike DiRocco thinks it's the right thing.
According to DiRocco, Minshew clearly has the support of the locker room. He energized his teammates, who saw past the headband and jorts and naked stretches in the locker room and saw someone who had fun every moment he was on the field. That kind of enthusiasm is infectious, and his teammates said they felt it when he was in the lineup.
DiRocco concedes that it wasn’t all good on the field.
Minshew also had some pretty bad performances, especially against New Orleans, Houston and Atlanta. He also lost seven fumbles (tied for second most among QBs).
Still, he set franchise rookie records for touchdown passes (21) and passing yards (3,271) to go along with only six interceptions. He had a better passer rating than any rookie quarterback, threw more touchdown passes than No. 1 pick Kyler Murray in two fewer games and threw half as many interceptions as both Daniel Jones and Murray.
Most importantly, he won more games than Jones (three) and Murray (five).
From a fantasy perspective, only three teams in 2019 had three wide receivers who all had more than 650 receiving yards: the Lions, Cowboys and Jaguars (DJ Chark, Chris Conley and Dede Westbrook). It's a young group that will now have the opportunity to grow with a promising, equally young QB.
Foles broke his collarbone in the opener, rookie Gardner Minshew played well and Foles struggled once he was healthy enough to return to action. That’s led the Jaguars to reverse course and part ways with Foles ahead of the 2020 season.
The Bears have agreed to trade a fourth-round pick to Jacksonville in exchange for Foles.
Foles spent 2016 with the Chiefs when Bears head coach Matt Nagy was the team’s offensive coordinator. Bears offensive coordinator Bill Lazor was on the Eagles staff during Foles’ first Philly stint and quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo were on the Philly staff for the second one.
Those relationships may have helped pave the way to a deal that gives the Bears an alternative to Mitch Trubisky as their starting quarterback.
As NFL.com's Nick Shook reminded readers, Trubisky, the former No. 2 overall pick of the 2017 draft, took a noticeable step backward in 2019, throwing seven less touchdowns, barely cracking 3,100 passing yards and finishing with a passer rating of 83, 15.4 points below his career-high mark from 2018. His decision-making slowed down (not in the good way) and his accuracy was so spotty, folks were frequently asking about his health to make sure the struggles weren't caused by an injury.
Chicago struggled mightily on offense as a result, and many seriously questioned the team's future at the position. With Trubisky entering his fourth season, the Bears had to make a decision on his fifth-year option beforehand. With insufficient proof available to convince Chicago's front office he's worth it, the Bears instead went out and got Foles.
Trubisky needs to prove he's not a bust, and he'll have a qualified quarterback (who has a ring) challenging him for his job from the outset. Such an endeavor will now begin with a quarterback competition in training camp. Things just got exciting at signal-caller in Chicago.
For what it's worth, Mike Garafolo said on NFL Network in discussing the deal that Trubisky has the "upper hand" right now for the starting spot. But Garafolo also mentioned the leash is short.
Also worth noting, ESPN's Adam Schefter reports that Foles already has restructured his contract with the Bears. He still has three years left, still has $21 million guaranteed left, but Foles now has the ability to void the deal after either of the first two years depending on his performance.
With Foles trades to Chicago, Jacksonville now hands its starting QB job to Minshew.
And ESPN.com's Mike DiRocco thinks it's the right thing.
According to DiRocco, Minshew clearly has the support of the locker room. He energized his teammates, who saw past the headband and jorts and naked stretches in the locker room and saw someone who had fun every moment he was on the field. That kind of enthusiasm is infectious, and his teammates said they felt it when he was in the lineup.
DiRocco concedes that it wasn’t all good on the field.
Minshew also had some pretty bad performances, especially against New Orleans, Houston and Atlanta. He also lost seven fumbles (tied for second most among QBs).
Still, he set franchise rookie records for touchdown passes (21) and passing yards (3,271) to go along with only six interceptions. He had a better passer rating than any rookie quarterback, threw more touchdown passes than No. 1 pick Kyler Murray in two fewer games and threw half as many interceptions as both Daniel Jones and Murray.
Most importantly, he won more games than Jones (three) and Murray (five).
From a fantasy perspective, only three teams in 2019 had three wide receivers who all had more than 650 receiving yards: the Lions, Cowboys and Jaguars (DJ Chark, Chris Conley and Dede Westbrook). It's a young group that will now have the opportunity to grow with a promising, equally young QB.