The re-signing of Mark Sanchez and the growing rumors about the Philadelphia Eagles drafting a quarterback means that Nick Foles is possibly going to be released or traded in the very near future.

And why? Well, Foles missed half of last season with an injury, but didn’t look brilliant in the first half, despite the Eagles going 6-2 with him behind center. After throwing 27 touchdown passes and only two interceptions in 2013, his TD& dropped from an NFL best 8.5% to 4.2% while throwing an interception on 3.2% of his attempts. His accuracy dropped by more than four percentage points. In short? He took a step backwards.

It’s not that Sanchez was brilliant, but Chip Kelly believes that it’s his system that helped Foles look so good in 2013, not the Arizona product himself. Sanchez wasn’t bad either in a run of eight games that probably saves his NFL career.

So what are the possibilities? One of them is Foles still heading into training camp as the starter but with Sanchez breathing down his neck. The kind of money he’s making means he’s much more than just a backup, with incentives that kick in if he wins the job and gets to play (and win).

The popular option that seems to be moving around these days is draft related. Marcus Mariota is the obvious candidate, but it’s going to be very difficult for the Eagles to move up and get him. Brett Hundley out of UCLA and Bryce Petty from Baylor are other names being mentioned. Why?

Well, Kelly’s Oregon system is about focusing on your quarterback and offensive line? The rest? They’ll follow their lead more or less, and they say Kelly isn’t as worried about that. If the draft is really what the Eagles are looking at, than there’s a very good chance Foles is a gonner, while Sanchez stays on as the veteran mentor.

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