There has been a lot of discussion recently about who will be the Eagles quarterback heading into 2015. This isn’t very surprising. It’s the most important position in professional sports. When you have as much uncertainty as the Eagles do, it’s going to lead to a lot of discussion.
The Eagles saw two quarterbacks throughout the year in Nick Foles and Mark Sanchez. When you break it down, the two basically split the season right down the middle. Interestingly enough, their numbers are almost identical. Foles had two more pass attempts than Sanchez. Sanchez threw for one more touchdown but also threw for one more interception. Looking at the numbers alone, you can’t clearly say this is the guy for 2015.
Given the uncertainty, the Eagles are left with three real options: draft the guy of the future, acquire a player through free agency or trade, or stick with Foles or Sanchez. Let’s take a deeper look at the options.
1. Draft the quarterback of the future
Enter Marcus Mariota. The Heisman Trophy winner out of Oregon currently projects to be the number one pick. He’s the guy that Eagles fans would love to have but don’t love the price to obtain. With the Eagles slated to pick 20th overall in the 2015 NFL draft, they would have to give up A TON in order to move all the way up to the first overall selection.
Sure, there are arguments of why he’d be a good option. He’s a Chip Kelly guy. He has familiarity with the system. He has a great balance of being able to throw the ball as well as keep it on the read option and make plays with his legs.
However, the Eagles would have to give up a ton of assets in order to put themselves in a position to take him. It would require multiple first round picks over the next few years as well as additional picks. You can consider throwing in players as well, but the majority of assets being unloaded would be draft picks. It’s putting a lot of eggs into one basket. We saw the Washington Redskins do something similar for Robert Griffin III. That didn’t work out so well. We also saw the Atlanta Falcons put together a massive package to move up to get Julio Jones. Obviously, he has panned out much better than RGIII. He’s a great player, but it has hindered what the Falcons have been able to do through the draft.
The other upper echelon player in the draft will be Jameis Winston. There is much more uncertainty about where he’ll be taken as teams will vary in their opinions on him. The kid hasn’t lost a game since arriving at Florida State and that’s hard to discount. However, he’s had a rough year on and off the field this year. His touchdowns and interceptions went from 40-10 in 2013 to 24-17 in 2014. He’s also been apart of many off the field issues that really makes you judge his maturity level. Acquiring Winston would still require trading up fairly high, but would require unloading fewer assets. He’s not a guy I’m in love with.
2. Acquire a player through free agency or trade
Mark Sanchez was a guy who was a free agent acquisition last year and resurrected his career to a certain degree in Philadelphia. He was a guy who picked up the system pretty quickly and was a pretty serviceable backup. He had issues with turnovers throughout the year, but when he stepped in when Foles went down, I didn’t feel like there was a significant dropoff. Comparing the numbers of the two players supports that.
If you look at the upcoming free agent class this year, you’re not going to see a name that jumps out to you. The question is whether Chip sees anything that jumps out at him. Sanchez wasn’t a guy that jumped out at me last year but was a guy that Chip saw as a fit. I’d be hard pressed to say that any of these guys look like Chip guys, especially when we’re talking about starting quarterback material.
From a trade perspective, there have been a number of names thrown around. The most popular that I’ve heard are Jay Cutler, Robert Griffin III, and Sam Bradford. They are much more established guys than the free agency pool has to offer, but nothing that I’d love to have. Add the fact that you have to give something up to get one of these guys, and I’m really turned off.
3. Stick with what you got
As for the quarterbacks currently on the roster, you have Foles coming back on the last year of his rookie contract. Sanchez is set to hit free agency. Matt Barkley is still under his rookie contract, but do you really care?
The first question to me is how the Eagles address Sanchez given he’s the only guy set to walk. I don’t think there’s anyone in this city who wants to see him as the Eagles starting quarterback in 2015. What he could continue to be is a viable backup. He knows the system better than any other guy you can bring in and has shown that he can be somewhat productive. I think the Eagles may like to keep him as a backup for a certain number, but if that’s not something he’s willing to take then they will let him walk.
So here we are with Foles. As it stands, he’s your clear cut starting quarterback in 2015. He’s under contract and is far from breaking the bank. He had a disappointing 2014 campaign after the infamous 27-2 numbers he put up in 2013. Everyone wanted to see him pickup where he left off but unfortunately he regressed. There is still uncertainty as to what kind of quarterback he truly is. He committed a bunch of bad turnovers and the continuous backfoot throws made you want to spike your remote.
You do have to remember that he was subject to the makeshift offensive line for the majority of his playing time and I think it was clear that he lost a certain level of comfort. At the same time, he was sacked 14 fewer times than Sanchez. Although he doesn’t get credit for his arm strength, he was able to stretch the field much better than Sanchez. He showed a certain level of toughness in the first half of the season, and I think he took a step forward in developing respect from his teammates.
So what do they do?
For me, I don’t see a lot of viable options. I think the guy in 2015 has to be Foles. There isn’t a current NFL player that sticks out who you can go get and trading way up in the draft to get a guy is detrimental to the rest of the team. Over the last 10 years, you’ve seen quarterbacks like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Drew Brees win Super Bowls. These are tier-one quarterbacks. However, you’ve also seen guys like Russell Wilson, Joe Flacco, Eli Manning, and Ben Roethlisberger get rings. I don’t exactly think these guys are future Hall of Famers. In many cases, they’ve had a great defense to support them. The Eagles have much bigger areas of concern on their defense that should be made a priority.
Although there are definitely still question marks that surround Foles, I don’t know that there’s a better option moving forward into 2015 that doesn’t setback the team in anyway.
(Photo Credits: Associated Press, Bleacher Report)