Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Kessler draws inspiration from Foles
Kessler draws inspiration from certain former backup QB
PHILADELPHIA >> Like a lot of displaced NFL players, Cody Kessler needed information about the team he wanted to sign with.
What was the head coach like?
Ditto the offensive coordinator and the quarterbacks coach.
What was the locker room culture?
And last but not least, is Rita’s Water Ice still served after training camp practices?
OK, nix the water ice. Kessler didn’t even know what it was until trying Rita’s (and he digs the mango).
But the respected veteran Kessler queried about what football life was like for an Eagles player was none other than Nick Foles. Kessler spent time in Jacksonville with Foles after the Super Bowl LII MVP with the Eagles inked a four-year, $88 million deal with the Jaguars. When Kessler signed with the Birds, Foles was the first guy to contact him.
“I was with Nick a few weeks
in Jacksonville and we’re in the same agency, too, so I’ve known him before,” Kessler said after practice Monday. “But those three or four weeks I was with him I really clung to him and followed him around and listened to the things he said. I took notes and really paid attention to it. A guy who’s had his ups and downs in this league, as a lot of us do, yeah, he’s been amazing.”
Foles is an amazing story of a quarterback who tied the single-game NFL record with seven touchdown passes in a game in one epic season, and after the next campaign was shipped to St. Louis, where players were sent to die. Foles persevered and three years later he got a chance to redeem himself at age 28, sparking the Eagles to a Super Bowl title.
Foles’ fabulous feat was chronicled in “Believe It: My Journey of Success, Failure and Overcoming the Odds.”
Kessler, with his third team in three years, suddenly has found himself thrust into the limelight as Eagles veteran backup Nate Sudfeld is out indefinitely with a broken wrist on his non-throwing arm.
Though Kessler doesn’t have Sudfeld’s command of the offense, snaps are snaps and the 2016 third-round pick out of USC realizes he’s got an excellent opportunity to showcase his skills when the Eagles oppose Foles and the Jaguars Thursday night at TIAA Bank Field.
Kessler was 2-2 in starts last year with the Jaguars. It’s safe to say no one will have to tell him where the locker room is.
“I was only there for a year and everyone there treated me great,” Kessler said. “It was a tough year and things didn’t go as planned but I made a lot of great relationships there and a lot of good friends. I’m excited to see those guys but also know the environment having played there before. If anything, it will help me feel comfortable there because I played a few games there last year.”
Sudfeld was hurt late in the first half of the preseason opener. The first snap Kessler took, his throwing hand absorbed a nasty shot from a Tennessee Titans pass rusher. But Kessler has taken over where Sudfeld left off in practice, and if franchise quarterback Carson Wentz sits out a second game, Kessler will get the start.
“It’s going to be good getting reps,” Kessler said. “It’ll be a good experience, another chance to run this offense in live situations, so I’m excited. I have no idea how it’s going to work out. Getting the reps this week with the (second team) and getting kind of those extended reps have really helped. I feel like I’ve been progressing a little bit faster in the offense and these last couple of days I’ve felt a lot better.
“Obviously I’m not as experienced as Nate or Carson, not having been in it that long. But I think each day just feels better and better. Today I made some better throws and plays I’ve run before. I’m able to understand the reads and be able to get the ball out quicker, too, and kind of understand what you’re trying to accomplish on each play.”
Kessler (6-1, 215) isn’t the biggest guy. But he gets rid of the ball fast and at USC, he spread the ball around to a variety of weapons. Ourlad’s NFL Scouting Services called Kessler “the most efficient passing quarterback in Trojan history.”
That’s some pretty high published praise.
“Consistently accurate over his career completing 67.5 percent of his passes,” the review went on. “An equal opportunity passer who threw to a variety of backs, tight ends, and wide receivers on a weekly basis. Skilled in the USC uptempo pitch and catch offense. Confident to throw his highly skilled playmakers open for the past three years.”
Eagles offensive coordinator Mike Groh praised Kessler’s Monday practice, saying, “We saw him make some good throws out there today.”
Whether Wentz makes a cameo Thursday or night, the ball is in Kessler’s court, as rookie fifth-round pick Clayton Thorson had his struggles in the opener.
Kessler, thanks to Foles, feels secure in the knowledge that at least for now, he’s where he’s supposed to be.
“He’s really talked me through the whole transition from Jacksonville to even before I knew I was coming here,” Kessler said. “He was one of the first ones to call me that day that it happened. He talked me through everything, then when he found out I was coming here he was excited for me. He’s definitely someone I look up to and excited to see again.”