The Eagles are in a darn good position with both Wentz and Foles at their disposal.
By Dave Spadaro
It is the most-asked question you hear around the area, other than, you know, “Can you believe the Eagles won the Super Bowl?!?!!?”
What is going to happen at the quarterback position for the Eagles?
In case you haven’t heard, the Eagles are loaded at quarterback as the current roster stands. Carson Wentz is the franchise player, heading into his third NFL season, rehabbing torn ACL and LCL ligaments in his left knee. His timeline to return for ’18 hasn’t been established, but Wentz has expressed confidence in his ability to be ready on Sept. 6 for the Thursday night opener (Super Bowl winners get all the cool perks).
Wentz led the league with 33 touchdown passes at the time of his injury and he has, in a very short period of time, elevated himself to the upper echelon of NFL quarterbacks. The kid has it all, and the Eagles’ quarterback job is all his when he’s healthy. There is no disputing that.
But the Eagles have a boatload of talent along with Wentz in the quarterback room. Nick Foles is coming off a historic three-game performance in the 2017 postseason, lighting up Atlanta and Minnesota before putting on a show of shows as he earned Most Valuable Player honors in the Super Bowl LII win over New England with three touchdown passes and one touchdown reception, passing for 373 yards.
The №3 quarterback is an intriguing prospect by the name of Nate Sudfeld, whom the Eagles added to the practice squad after he was released by Washington last September. Sudfeld was added to the 53-man roster midway through the season and then played three quarters of the regular-season finale against Dallas, completing 19 of 23 passes.
Sudfeld was at least impressive enough in that game, combined with some Foles hiccups in games against Oakland and Dallas, to motivate reporters to ask head coach Doug Pederson if he would consider turning to Sudfeld in the playoffs should Foles falter. Sounds dumb now, doesn’t it?
Anyway, the Eagles have an avalanche of riches at quarterback. Which means they do what, exactly?
The likely scenario is that they stay put with what they have, and that Foles and Sudfeld take all the practice reps through training camp and that the Eagles prepare to start Foles in the regular-season opener should Wentz need more time to recover from his injury. That’s a pretty darn awesome place to be as far as the quarterback position is concerned looking ahead at this point in the offseason.
But, you know, there are going to be variables. Teams are going to inquire about Foles, who has one year remaining on his contract. In a quarterback-needy league, one in which Cleveland offered Cincinnati second- and third-round draft picks for quarterback A.J. McCarron (four career starts) in November, some team(s) out there is going to see if it can get its hands on Foles.
The cost? That remains to be seen? Would the Eagles turn a deaf ear to any offer? Why would they? This team needs to make sure the quarterback position is ably manned for the start of 2018 and any time that Wentz isn’t able to play, but they’ve also got other roster needs and only six draft picks (no picks in the second and third rounds in April).
In other words, the Eagles are, as always, open for business. They are operating from a position of strength, and it’s an enviable spot for this football team to maximize. ••
