The Los Angeles Rams don’t want Nick Foles on the team next season, but for now, they’re not actively pushing him out via trade, instead waiting for the right opportunity.
Foles, who had a miserable first season with the Rams, which happened to be their last in St. Louis, has been pushed down the depth chart last season, and even further below once they picked Jared Goff in the draft with the first overall selection. Case Keenum is ahead of him, and with Foles carrying a $8.75 million cap hit this season, sitting him on the bench just waiting for his contract to run out doesn’t sound like a great idea.
So what’s the plan? Bring him in for camp, and waiting for a quarterback spot to open up somewhere, via injury or other issues. Teams always need quarterbacks, and the Rams will give him away from practically nothing. He does have a contract for the 2017 season as well, but cutting him comes with very little consequence following the 2016 season, saving teams over $12 million in cap space. And if Foles has a good season at the place he’s traded to? Well, suddenly $13 million of a cap hit for a quarterback isn’t too bad, or maybe he’ll be willing to rework a deal in exchange for an extension.
Foles, who has been in the NFL since 2012, had a breakout season in 2013 under Chip Kelly, throwing for 2891 yards in 13 games, including 27 touchdown passes to only two interceptions. He led the NFL in TD%, yards per attempt and passer rating that season, but he missed half of the next one due to injury after a so-so start, and looked bad most of the time for the Rams, completing a career low 56.4% of his passes while throwing just 7 touchdowns to 10 interceptions, which makes it less than surprising that the Rams don’t want to pay for him anymore.