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Free agency opens in just over a week and reports point to Nick Foles signing with the Jaguars. Last month I wrote a piece about potential landing spots, and obviously the Jaguars were on it because of their current situation.
This is not to say that Foles going there is a done deal, but the Jaguars expect it. Teams such as the Giants, Redskins, or Dolphins could all make a late run for him, but let’s further analyse why he’s such a good fit for the Jags.
He is a perfect fit for them. Firstly, because he’s a major upgrade to Blake Bortles.
Bortles is a frustrating quarterback, sometimes producing moments of magic and getting you invested, believing he will come good, but then he does something extremely questionable; a majority of the time collapsing, turning the ball over, or throwing uncatchable passes almost straight after producing something good. A bit of it comes from the fact that the Jags’ offensive line gave up 53 sacks last year which is pretty terrible, and places them amongst the bottom four for that particular stat.
Secondly, they’re in a win now situation – they have a stellar defence that was made to look bad last year because they had to spend too long on the field after their quarterback couldn’t produce any sort of consistency, or even any quality, and an offensive line that may as well have been a finishing line at a 100m sprint race. They need to take advantage of having such a high power defence by bringing in a veteran that has played under pressure, that can handle the magnitude of the big moments, and can essentially just move the chains and give the defence a chance to breathe. If they can do that, they can win things.
They will, of course, need to bring in some sort of offensive line reinforcement, but I can’t see them bringing in Foles and not addressing that issue. Foles makes good throws and good decisions in key moments, we saw this at the Super Bowl, and you can’t really do that with a bad offensive line, so if they want those things from him, investment is key.
Thirdly, and for me most importantly; John DeFilippo, the Jags’ offensive coordinator, was Foles’ quarterback coach during that ultimately successful Foles-led Super Bowl run. If anyone knows how to get the best out of Foles, as well as his limitations, it’s DeFilippo.
It’s an exciting time for the Jags if they do get Foles and reinforce the offensive line.
At least he knows how to beat the Patriots.
