The Chicago Bears drew a lot of reactions when they executed the trade to acquire veteran quarterback Nick Foles from the Jacksonville Jaguars. Some felt they were stupid to do it. Nobody in their right minds would trade for that contract. Others felt it was a fair bargain for a former Super Bowl MVP who’s played some really good football when given a proper chance.
So which is it? Did the Bears steal a quality quarterback away from a finicky franchise for cheap or did the Jaguars swindle them out of a pick? According to Marc Sessler of NFL.com, there is a clear winner in this argument.
“Bears’ grade: B-
Jaguars’ grade: C-Still, a healthy Foles — good luck with that — is a tangible upgrade over the broken-down concept of Mitchell Trubisky. Refusing to improve over 41 starts, Trubisky seems to have lost the faith of Chicago’s coaching staff, no matter what they tell us publicly…
…Competition for Mitchell was the war cry. Foles has to be seen as the favorite for Week 1 duties, barring injury or an August from hell. It stops the bleeding — for now — while the Jaguars, meanwhile, feel like a team starting over from the inside out.”
Nick Foles can be the Bears’ version of Alex Smith
Head coach Matt Nagy has seen this setup before. A team trading for an established veteran. One with a keen football intelligence and leadership intangibles. He might not be the most gifted but he understands how to run an NFL offense. That is exactly what the Kansas City Chiefs wanted when they traded for Alex Smith in 2013. He was never “great” but he was “good enough” most of the time.
He allowed the Chiefs to focus their building efforts across the rest of the offense. Then when they were ready, they went after their franchise guy in Patrick Mahomes. There is no doubt that Foles can fill that same role in Chicago. Maybe even improve on it since he actually had a Super Bowl ring. Was he the perfect option? No. Can he be better than what they’ve had? Absolutely.
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Jacksonville better hope Minshew pans out. Otherwise, they’ll have proven their inability to develop a quarterback remains straight and true.
