Nick Foles, QB, Chicago Bears
Perhaps the trade for Nick Foles by the Chicago Bears reflects a bit of panic, or desperation, from general manager Ryan Pace. Having traded up in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft to select quarterback Mitchell Trubisky – with both Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson on the board – Pace now faces a closing contention window with nothing to show for it but an embattled quarterback on his rookie deal.
With the seat getting hot and the Chicago media circling, Pace needed to address quarterback this off-season. Rather than acquire a player like Marcus Mariota via free agency, or a Andy Dalton via trade, Pace looked to Foles, a former Super Bowl Champion coming off a season largely lost to a collarbone injury.
Despite this looking like a move born out of desperation, Foles is a very good schematic fit for Matt Nagy’s offense. Nagy’s system is almost identical to what Foles ran under Doug Pederson in Philadelphia, which makes sense. Both Nagy and Pederson are branches off the Andy Reid coaching tree. This shows up on film as well. Here is Foles making a quick read to throw the wheel route out of the backfield:
Now look at this throw from Trubisky to Tarik Cohen out of the backfield:
The designs are a little different, as the Chicago Bears use play-action here, but the general concept is the same. In-breaking routes create space for the running back’s wheel route along the sideline.
Foles will be intimately familiar with Nagy’s playbook, and there will be minimal learning curve for him. In an environment when OTAs and training camp could potentially be delayed or compressed, having a quarterback ready to step in on day one is a huge benefit. Foles can do that. Pace might have panicked a bit, but in the end he might just have found the right quarterback for Nagy’s offense.