Nick Foles' time in Philadelphia is running out, but the Eagles made sure to take care of the quarterback one last time before he likely flies off toward another organization.
In the wake of their playoff exit, the Eagles compensated Foles for his near-miss of a signing bonus during the regular season. The backup quarterback had an incentive in his contract with Philly, one of many, that rewarded him $1 million if he played 33 percent of snaps. Filling in for the injured Carson Wentz, Foles fell just four snaps short of reaching 33 percent after leaving the Eagles' Week 17 blowout win early.
But Philly maintained the spirit of the contract and handed Foles his $1 million signing bonus, NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reports. ESPN's Field Yates first reported the news.
That wasn't the only incentive Foles hit this season. In the Eagles' wild-card win over the Chicago Bears, Foles banked $500,000 for playing 33 percent of the snaps in a playoff game and another $500,000 for the victory. He also netted $500,000 for playing 33 percent of Philly's snaps in its Divisional Round loss in New Orleans.
Garafolo reported that Foles added $6.75 million in total incentives to his original contract this season.
It's good of Philly to take care of and do right by the signal-caller that secured the city its first Super Bowl title, but how will the Eagles organization treat Foles next month, when a week after the Super Bowl, Philly will have to make a decision about the QB's future?
The Eagles must choose to pick up Foles' $20 million option for 2019 by Feb. 10, or Foles is subject to the open market where he can sign with anybody. Foles has until Feb. 15 after the option is exercised to buy his way out and part ways with $2 million.
As evidenced by their generosity toward Foles, Philly is acting like it wants what is best for Foles, as long as it doesn't come back to bite them in the future.
"There's another factor at play here," Garafolo reported on Good Morning Football Weekend on Saturday. "We know the teams that are probably going to need some quarterback help next year. We're talking about Jacksonville, maybe Miami, maybe the Giants, maybe the Washington Redskins. There's a big difference to the Eagles if Nick Foles winds up in Jacksonville versus if he winds up with the Giants.
"How much, because compensation is a big part of it for the Eagles. But I believe it's also about like 'We want to make sure that we don't put this guy somewhere where all of a sudden he's going to be successful and he's gonna hurt us going forward.'"
Eagles brass played coy with Foles' future during their post-mortem presser on Tuesday.
"In Nick's case, listen we'd love to have everyone back throughout the roster," coach Doug Pederson said, "but as I've said many, many times, it's not about one guy, it's about the team and we're going to do what's best for the team."
"We would love to keep Nick Foles," Eagles GM Howie Roseman said. "You talk about who we drafted here and we've grown incredibly close with. I don't know a team that wouldn't want to have Nick Foles on their roster. Certainly, as we go into the substance of those discussions -- we haven't had them yet -- but there's no question we love having Nick Foles as an Eagle in Philadelphia and we'd love to keep him."
