Foles Gold? The Dynasty Implications of Nick Foles in Jacksonville

Ken Kelly

In what was really the league’s worst kept secret, the Nick Foles era in Jacksonville will begin as soon as Foles can sign his new four-year, $88 million contract ($50 million guaranteed) on Wednesday. There was little doubt Foles was going to hit the market this off-season as the Eagles were simply not going to spend the money needed to keep him as a backup to Carson Wentz. The signing of Foles is an interesting one for sure as the Jaguars broke the bank for a quarterback who may not have been getting offers even close to this lucrative. Still, it fills a need for the Jaguars and has long-reaching dynasty implications.  Let’s look at all the players affected by the signing.

Nick Foles, QB JAX

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This is going to be fun to watch. Are the Jaguars getting the Foles who has had two amazing stretches in his career and a Super Bowl MVP to cap it off or the Foles who has been pedestrian at best during other long periods? It’s a fascinating gamble for the Jaguars to take. Over his seven year career, Foles has thrown for 11,165 yards, 68 touchdowns and 33 interceptions. On the surface, those aren’t too shabby. However, one needs to consider he had an amazing 2013 season with a staggering 27 touchdowns and just two interceptions. He also had a season to forget with the Rams as threw just seven touchdown passes and ten interceptions. Simply put, Foles has proven to be one of the most “Jekyll and Hyde” prone players in the league.

On a side note, it’s unfortunate the Jags let go of Carlos Hyde because the headlines were just going to be SO easy.

Foles will take the helm of the Jacksonville offense at age 30 and the franchise has obviously gone all in with him. On the plus side, he had a career high with a 72.3 completion percentage in his five games as the starter in Philadelphia last season and seems ready for one more starting opportunity. You can expect Foles’ ADP to rise in the coming weeks, but it’s going to be hard to trust him considering the talent surrounding him on offense. Foles is best served as a dynasty QB2 with some streaky upside.

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Blake Bortles, QB JAX

The signing of Foles will bring an end to the five year Blake Bortles era in Jacksonville. Ironically, Bortles may be the only player even more streaky than Foles. His career numbers (17,646 passing yards, 103 touchdowns and 75 interceptions) aren’t bad. However, much like Foles, one just has to look deeper into his career to see an anomaly – with Bortles, it came in 2015, when he threw for 4,428 yards with 35 touchdowns and 18 interceptions. When you take that season out of the equation, Bortles’ other four years have yielded a total of a very average 68 touchdown passes and 57 interceptions. It’s clear at this point Bortles was able to put together a Fitzmagic-esque season that proved to be a fluke. He’ll latch on as a backup quarterback, but simply takes too many chances and makes too many critical mistakes to build a franchise around. As a result, his ADP is going to drop even further in the coming months.

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Carson Wentz, QB PHI

Having Foles out of the way can only be considered a good thing for Wentz. However, he has bigger issues right now as his leadership ability has been questioned this off-season. Wentz also needs a solid season without getting hurt before owners really trust him as more than a QB2. We know he has all the talent in the world, but his dynasty value is a little unstable, regardless of Foles being gone.

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Leonard Fournette, RB JAX

It’s possible Fournette doesn’t quite have so much attention placed on him. However, much like Wentz, durability is his biggest problem.

Jacksonville Receivers

The Jags currently have a recovering Marqise Lee  to go with DJ Chark, Dede Westbrook and Keelan Cole in their receiving corps – that isn’t exactly keeping the rest of the AFC South up at night. While all of them have a chance to have their dynasty values improved with Foles at the helm, expect some more competition coming via free agency or the draft. They also urgently need to address the tight end position.

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ken kelly