Chip Kelly is publicly saying all the right things about commiting to the development of young Nick Foles as QB#1 moving on to the Eagles' 2014 campaign… But I have an intuitive notion that Kelly is leaving the door open at all times for the entry of a mobile gunslinger type who could emerge out of almost anywhere and take over his offense in spite of Foles' body of work so far.
Does Foles' mystery challenger come out of the 2014 Draft ? Is he already here in the form of Matt Barkley? It almost certainly won't be Mike Vick— who seems destined to move on and become a "bridge quarterback" for another team in the NFL which is looking to inspire its current underachieving offense to take the next step before it can draft or trade for a "franchise QB" of the future.
Okay, that's a lot of drama to take in right there… I better slow down…
I like Shaggy…don't get me wrong. He's physically big, and intellectually and emotionally he's grown very smart at his position over the past two seasons.
He's also genuinely liked and respected by his teammates for a number of good reasons. He's the kind of kid who absorbs on-the-job training lessons without letting his own ego get in the way of learning. In other words, he's extremely "coachable"…
But in my opinion, Foles has been over-coached. This kid is so obsessed with not turning the ball over that he is being denied his potential to make bold and definitive big plays.
And okay, it doesn't help that Foles is a little slow of foot, to be polite, so he can't rely on his legs to create the kind of improv magic that we routinely see out of guys like Cam Newton, or Colin Kaepernick, or even Aaron Rodgers…
Let's just say that "escapability" is not one of Shaggy's strong suits…
But that's okay— it simply means now Foles is faced with the challenge of becoming the league's best stand-up pocket passer and distributor of the ball….
So now I'm thinking of Ben Roethlisberger or Joe Flacco….those types. But even those guys have to master a moving pocket at times or slip backwards and sideways out of pressure. I haven't yet seen that consistent "slip and slide" ability out of Foles in crucial situations. Maybe that's something that can't be taught—I don't know.
McNabb had that "slip and slide" thing, too. Jaworski had it to a degree, also. Kurt Warner had it. Joe Montana and Steve Young perfected it.
Maybe this is simplistic thinking, but without a major improvement in his overall mobility, I don't see how Nick Foles can optimize the current offense that Chip Kelly is running. Even the Chippah has to see his offense, as fertile as it has been at times, is being diagnosed by the rest of the league to the point where it all boils down to the mobility of the QB. The keycodes to the plan to stop the Eagles offense have already been widely distributed.The first key is to combine coverage and inside pressure to isolate Foles on an island.
Now guys like Kaepernick and Russell Wilson, for example, will make you pay for that kind of "isolation" strategy. But with Foles, too often it is an end game in key situations. It's one of the reasons the Eagles ended up 3-for-12 on 3rd Down situations in their playoff loss to the Saints.
But it's okay. None of that would matter if Foles turns into Joe Namath, who could hobble back into the pocket on two non-existent knees and just zip lethal darts into double coverage—-and get away with it most of the time.
But Nick is not that kind of gunslinger. He needs to feel certain about the percentages of success on a matchup or a zone look before he lets it fly. And that's a good thing, because that mentality really does limit interceptions and turnovers. It also means he's respecting his coaches' instructions to minimize risk. But it also means he's unintentionally missing opportunities at times to burn or bury an opponent.
The Eagles need a quarterback under Kelly's current system who can balance tempo, ball security and visionary seizure of opportunity all at once. It's a tall order even for a 6-6 guy like Foles. So I find myself thinking, if Foles cannot master ALL the components of the current offensive philosophy, maybe Kelly should change the offense to fit Foles.
If Kelly adapts his offense to better fit Foles and who Foles is, then and only then will I truly believe that Kelly truly stands by his man.
In fact, Kelly kind of hedged his bet on Foles at Monday's press conference if you read behind the lines…
Despite Nick Foles' record-setting performance this season, Kelly declined to designate him as the team's franchise quarterback during his end-of-the-season address on Monday.
"If the Eagles are a franchise, which we are, then Nick is our quarterback," Kelly said. "But there are no tags to it. Obviously, you've got to have one guy and right now, Nick is that one guy. But we're always going to try to continue to upgrade at every position, and I think all of our players know that."
Foles, 24, seemingly won the starting job for the foreseeable future with his play this season.
Upon taking over for an injured Michael Vick, Foles finished the regular season with 27 touchdown passes against only two interceptions while leading the league with a 119.2 passer rating that was the third-highest in NFL history. His 0.63 touchdown/interception ratio was the best in league history and he tied the NFL mark by throwing seven TD passes against Oakland on Nov. 6.
But there were some stumbles. Foles had trouble getting into a rhythm in the last two games, against Dallas and the Saints, respectively. He didn't make a lot of mistakes, but that was partly because he didn't take many risks. He absorbed a costly, 11-yard sack against the Saints before place-kicker Alex Henery missed a 48-yard field goal.
"I don't worry about being labeled a 'franchise quarterback' or any of that stuff," Foles said Monday. "I've never looked at any label as being meaningful. I know everybody wants to label this after a good season, but there's a lot of stuff I need to get better at. I don't look at this season as 'Oh, man I did good!' I have a lot of stuff to work on. We didn't win the last game and a lot of that goes on the quarterback."
The Eagles are not allowed to reward him for his efforts with a new contract until after next season.
Under the terms of the NFL's collective bargaining agreement, drafted players are required to play at least three years under their rookie contracts before they can receive a new or restructured deal. Foles, who was drafted in the third round in 2012, signed a four-year deal worth $2.769 million that will pay him $615,000 in 2014. That's tip money for Indianapolis quarterback Andrew Luck, the top overall pick in 2012. He will make $2.4 million in base salary next season.
"He's a great decision-maker," Kelly said. "I think he's extremely accurate with where he puts the ball and he's very young. I think people still sometimes forget that. He didn't become our starter this year until Mike went down (on Oct. 27). In the short body of work Nick had, I think he did an outstanding job."
"A franchise quarterback is someone who goes to work every day and has to also be a leader, a guy the team looks to and the city looks to," Foles said. "You have to stay consistent and if you don't play well, you won't be a starter. Regardless, I'm going to be who I am. If I keep improving as a player and as a leader, someone who makes his teammates better, all the other stuff will take care of itself."
Kelly intends to provide Foles with some competition for the job next season, but there are no current contenders. Matt Barkley did nothing as a rookie to suggest he is capable of being a starter. Vick is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. If he re-signs with the Eagles, he would be a backup.
The Eagles could look to the draft, but the quarterback Kelly reportedly covets the most, Oregon's Marcus Mariota, opted to stay in college for at least one more season.
"There's always competition," Kelly said. "I don't think Nick has ever been afraid of competition. He showed me that the first time we had (a competition between Foles and Vick during the preseason)."
Foles intends to spend some time at his offseason home in Austin, Texas, before returning to Philadelphia for the team's winter strength and conditioning program.
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