For starters, Foles can still be a good one
PHILADELPHIA » Occasionally, Eagles quarterback Nick Foles will allow himself to roll out of his professional pocket. Sometimes, he will look at his past. Other times, he will look to his future. Every time, though, he will step right back in to what must be his comfortable present.
During work hours, he is a backup for a franchise that recently believed it had landed the starting quarterback of its eternal fantasies. He knows that, accepts that, embraces that, cashes checks for that. He realizes that Carson Wentz is No. 1 on the depth chart, and that it is printed in no-smudge ink.
But Foles is 28, not 38. And he has started in 36 NFL games. And he once threw seven touchdown passes in a game. And four seasons ago he had 27 touchdown passes with two interceptions. And all of that means he can be something other than veteran insurance. And all of that means that he has yet conceded to a professional lifetime of waiting to take garbage-time snaps and kneel down. Someday, he believes, he again will be a starting NFL quarterback.
“Yeah,” Foles was saying the other day, after an OTA workout at the NewsControl Compound. “I mean, I am here for a few years and obviously we will decide at that point. I love it here. But, yeah, I know I can. Sometimes, the opportunity has to arise in the right situation and all that. But I am grateful to be here. I am grateful to be in the position I am in. And when that road comes, we will cross it.”
In professional sports, that road opens unexpectedly. Perhaps there is an injury. Or perhaps there is another overwhelming, urgent reason for situations to change, like a No. 1 quarterback not being as spectacular as the scouting fanatics had predicted.
Foles is entering his sixth NFL season, that after being a third-round draft choice. After he had played in the 2013 Pro Bowl, he would break his collarbone. By then, Chip Kelly had already broken his offense, shooing DeSean Jackson away. By the next year, Foles would be traded to the Rams for Sam Bradford and flop. Then he’d go to Kansas City, reuniting with Andy Reid as a useful backup to Alex Smith. When the Chiefs passed on his contract option, he signed for two years with the Eagles, a better quarterback than ever. Or so he believes.
“Absolutely,” Foles said. “Obviously, you start out with a skill set, and the skill set just continues to increase, whether it’s footwork, recognizing a defense, seeing movements, all those different things. I could go on and on. But the big reason is just knowledge of the game, going through different things and different places, facing adversity and just continuing to play.
“The more you play, the more you see. I’ve been fortunate enough to be part of a lot of different offenses. So I’ve seen a lot of different things and different teachings. So it sort of builds a data base. But at this point of my career, I have more knowledge.”
That’s how it should work. It’s how it must work for Wentz. But the Eagles have an offense stuffed with accomplished skill players on short-term contracts. And if Wentz is on another 14-interception pace, or if he needs a game off to recover from something as so many NFL quarterbacks do, and if Foles can perform like he once did, there can be a tidy, little burst of doubt.
Will Carson Wentz ever have a season like Foles had, that year he screeched away from the Pro Bowl in a GMC pickup, his prize for being the game’s best offensive player?
“Carson is a great guy,” Foles said. “We realize we are all in this together: You don’t have to go out there alone. I am going to help you in any way possible. I’m not here to try to do anything but try to help you. He understands that. It’s a great atmosphere to be in. It’s not always that way. But here it is. And that is going to help us be successful.”
It’s why Nick Foles is trying not to look too far back. Or forward. Not yet, anyway. To contact Jack McCaffery, email him at jmccaffery@21stcenturymedia.com; follow him on Twitter @JackMcCaffery