The Jaguars have agreed to trade Nick Foles to the Bears, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). In exchange, the Bears will send a compensatory fourth-round pick to the Jags. The former Super Bowl MVP will restructure his hefty contract as part of the trade, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network tweets.
It’ll be new surroundings for Foles, but he’ll have plenty of familiar faces to help him adjust. Head coach Matt Nagy is among the staffers that have worked with him in the past, which will help with the learning curve.
The Bears have been exploring alternatives to former first-round pick Mitchell Trubisky this offseason, though they’re not necessarily out to replace him. Instead, Foles figures to serve as competition for the soon-to-be 26-year-old.
Trubisky showed plenty of promise in 2018 as he led the Bears to an 11-3 mark in 14 starts, a campaign that resulted in his first ever Pro Bowl nod. However, things got really rocky last year – Trubisky had just 17 touchdowns against ten interceptions and the Bears’ D couldn’t make up for the shortcomings. The Bears went 8-7 in Trubisky’s 15 starts and finished .500 on the season, leaving them short of the playoffs.
Chicago initially insisted after the year that they’d roll with Trubisky in 2020, but reports soon emerged that they were going to look for a veteran to push Trubisky. They’ve been connected to a number of signal-callers including Foles, Andy Dalton, and Teddy Bridgewater, and we heard Monday that they were focused on trading for either Foles or Dalton.
The Bears will take on the last three years of Foles’ contract, which pays a base value of $50M before the restructure. The Jaguars will be left with a substantial dead money hit of $18.75MM in 2020 and a mid-round pick. Jacksonville seems prepared to turn things over to Gardner Minshew, the sixth-rounder who went 6-6 last year as a rookie and finished the season with a top-10 interception rate.
Foles has had plenty of success at Soldier Field, as his last win as a starting quarterback was in Chicago in the wild card round of the playoffs two seasons ago in the infamous ‘double-doink’ game. While the Bears have insisted they aren’t giving up on Trubisky, it would be highly unusual to pay a backup quarterback as much money as Foles is getting, and it would be surprising if he doesn’t take over at some point.
Chicago now has even less draft capital, as they’ve already shipped out a bunch of picks in previous deals. They now have the 43rd and 50th overall selections in next month’s draft, but no other picks in the first four-rounds, Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune notes in a tweet breaking down all of their picks.
Absolutely hate it.
I’ve defended pace and the bears for the longest, this move with jimmy graham while your oline is bottom 5 in the nfl has made me lose all faith in him, foles lost his job to Gardner minschew and we gave up a pick for him, I think the bears are the corona virus of the nfl, making people sick
that’s not at all funny
You hate it .. imagine what Foles is thinking. He won’t do it, but he should retire before midnight. This offense is a cluster bomb that Brady, Manning or Rodgers in their primes couldn’t save. Foles will get beaten to a pulp and he hasn’t exactly shown durability.
The good news is this might make Trubisky look better.
does that mean the JAX are gonna draft a QB and i wonder if TB12 would prefer Jax of TB ?
lol naa clearly they’re #TankingForTrevor or #F**kIngUpForFields, should use this draft to shore up their Oline and rebuilding that defense
why they have to draft a QB give their young QB some wepons they be fine
I think they like Minshew. They certainly like his salary.
The fact they are eating Foles bonus in their cap space also suggests they might not go big on a QB. All the more reason to like Minshew’s salary.
Money doesn’t matter to NFL owners, but CAP hits do.
Jaguars front office is too stupid to draft a QB … look at the enormous talent they have watched walk by in recent years via the Draft ! They’ll hang their collective heads on Gardner Minchew and draft a late round QB like they did Minchew to either back him up or take the job.
Lol
I guess it’s an upgrade but with that contract I feel like it’s a loss on principle alone.
it’s getting restructured
Maybe… we don’t know if or how much salary the Jags we’re willing to eat.
So I’d assume they are out on Cam?
Hopefully
Agreed – Dalton would have been a much better option
LOL
Why would Dalton be a better option? Has Dalton even won a playoff game ever
Dalton would have been close to the worst possible option
Says the guy who thought Winston was a good option.
I mean were there really any good options honestly?
Teddy Bridgewater before he signed with Carolina
Wasn’t Dalton benched by the worst team in the NFL? So what would make him the better option? Let’s think about what we say next time shall we.
Contract obligations?
So, basically Jacksonville just traded a Super Bowl MVP for some fries and a burger. They made the right decision because as I said when he signed there Jacksonville was not the place for him they just cannot develop quarterbacks it’s just that simple and established quarterbacks cannot succeed in Jacksonville. This pretty much will put an end to the Mitchell Trubisky era and could spell the end if Chicago does not make the playoffs this year for their general manager.
Yeah, Trubisky will be the next Marcus Mariota.
Were Trubisky that good…
Wait until they tell you how much dead money that’ll be. I think that just means they’ve given Minshew the keys.
I don’t think so at all he was benched a couple of times last season. Would not be surprised if Jacksonville goes quarterback in the first round. Then they would have both guys in training camp competing for the starting job.
instead of getting another QB. why not get a TE, a WR onlie help. some help on d. they have more holes than a QB would help. just roll with the young QB they have now and see what happens
Dave Caldwell has let great QB after Great QB walk right by Him in recent Drafts with Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes just to name two.. WHY would he pick one now ? I predict they start Minchew and pick another late round QB to back him up … or … sign a cheap veteran to back him up.
I like it! He had a ring, reads defenses well and hits the mark on exactly what we needed, a solid veteran
Best case scenario for the Bears at this point. Foles was awesome in Philly running a similar style offense.
But did you see the play-calling from Nagy last season? No one can succeed with the strategies he employed – run game or passing.
Bears have made a change at OC so that should help some. I’m not a fan of Foles but he’s going to be a better short term solution than Mike Glennon was.
They made an OC change but Nagy will still call the plays. No improvement!
i wish bears would trade pace but im sure no one is willing to give up a used football for him
Old man Halas must be rolling his eyes above.
Laughing is more like it, the team still makes money hand over fist with a consistently inferior product.
Lol
Who’s gonna be on the hook for the contract? Jags or Bears?
Obviously the Bears
Well since it’s getting restructured that makes sense
Out dueled Tom Brady in a Super Bowl. Has as many SB wins as Aaron Rodgers.
Chicago has certainly had worse.
The more interesting question is if they ever had better.
McMahon? Cutler?
And don’t forget Bobby Douglass who led the league with a 6.9 rushing average in 1972…lol
Just shy of 1,000 yds rushing and 8 rushing TD’s. A true dual threat at QB, and the best TE to ever play QB.
Sid Luckman?
I want to know the opinions of the British fans of the London Jaguars of this trade since they see them live as much as Jacksonville fans.
2 times vs. 14 times ? Better get educated on your Math.
Now this was the deal I was hoping to see the Jags make, not the Campbell deal.
Can’t wait for Black Monday 2021 and see Pace shown the door the man is maybe the worst GM in football
Bill O’Brien: challenge accepted
Don’t forget Dave Gettleman.
Dave Caldwell
bears should have just flipped Mitch for Nick. Make Jacksonville eat some money.
Foles will lead the Bears to the Super Bowl.
Because Jaguars!