Foles expected to sign deal with Jaguars

Nick Foles reportedly will wind up in Jacksonville when NFL free agency opens.

With the Philadelphia Eagles naming Carson Wentz their starting quarterback, Foles, the Super Bowl LII MVP, will hit the market on March 13.

The Jaguars are expected to quickly sign the quarterback, Philly.com’s Les Bowen reports.

Although days remain before free agency can begin, the market beyond Jacksonville has not materialized for Foles, Bowen reports, and the two parties have been working on the structure of a contract, according to the Inquirer’s Jeff McLane.

The NFL’s “legal tampering” period begins March 11, but the Jaguars appear to be in no danger of violating that, since the Eagles have said they do not plan to use the franchise tag to keep Foles.

For the Jaguars, a team built on a strong defence, there has been a deficiency at quarterback.

Jacksonville has decided Blake Bortles, the third overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft, is not the answer. Although the Jaguars were 10-6 in 2017 and lost in the AFC Championship Game, they regressed to a 5-11 record last season.

The Eagles are determined to move forward behind Wentz, with whom they were 5-6 last season.

With Foles starting, they were 4-1 and finished 9-7 overall, advancing to the playoffs.

The Eagles beat the Bears in a wild-card game in January, then lost in the divisional round to the New Orleans Saints. That made it easier to walk away from Foles, whose contract contains a US$20 million mutual option for 2019.

“After a lot of conversation, we think letting him become a free agent is the right thing to do,” Howie Roseman, the Eagles’ executive vice-president of football operations, said last week.

“He’s a tremendous player, Super Bowl MVP, and someone we feel is a top-15 quarterback in this league.”