Will Nick Foles make his return to Philadelphia?

Introduction

The Philadelphia Eagles have already been very busy early in the 2016 offseason re-signing some of their own talent, most notably Brent Celek, Zach Ertz and Vinny Curry. However, there are rumors flying around Philadelphia about the return of a player who was involved in a questionable transaction made by the Eagles in 2015, Nick Foles.

2015 Review

During the Chip Kelly era in Philadelphia, the head coach parted ways with some players who were major pieces to the organization’s success in years’ past including LeSean McCoy, Jeremy Maclin and the aforementioned Foles. Foles was traded to the St. Louis Rams for former first overall pick Sam Bradford in a deal that made fans and media both scratch their heads. Foles went on to have a season to forget in St. Louis.

The Rams finished ranked dead last in team passing in 2015, and Foles looked the part of a quarterback who lost his confidence. Bradford didn’t fare very much better with the Eagles. Bradford played in 14 games in 2015 while missing two due to a shoulder injury; he finished with 3,725 yards passing with 19 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Although the passing yards were a career high, Bradford was expected to have more production with Chip Kelly on the sideline.

Enter Doug Pederson

Let’s fast forward a year. The Eagles moved on from Kelly and hired Doug Pederson to be their new head coach. Pederson has history in the “City of Brotherly Love.” He was a backup quarterback and went on to be a successful assistant coach during the Andy Reid tenure in Philadelphia.

During that span, Pederson and Reid selected Foles in the 2012 NFL draft. In Foles’ rookie season, Pederson was Foles’ quarterbacks coach. The young quarterback found early success appearing in seven games that season, throwing for 1,699 yards and six touchdowns.

What Does the Future Hold?

In recent news, it was reported that Philadelphia would not use the franchise tag on Bradford, leaving question marks at the quarterback position. Bradford will be an unrestricted free agent on March 9 when the new league year begins. Rumors surfaced of Pederson and the Eagles’ organization being interested in bringing Foles back to Philadelphia with the hopes of the player/coach combination being a match made in heaven.

Foles is still under contract with the newly relocated Los Angeles Rams until 2018 and will count as $8.75 million against their salary cap in 2016. In order for the Eagles to re-acquire Foles, the Rams would have to either trade the quarterback to Philadelphia or give him his outright release. The best possible scenario for the Eagles would be if Los Angeles cut Foles and for him to sign with Philadelphia at a lesser value due to Foles’ sub-par play over the past two seasons.

However, is it the most likely situation? The answer is no, because of the Rams’ salary cap situation.

A trade isn’t very likely either because of a similar reason. The team acquiring Foles would have to take on his guaranteed $7.75 million contract for 2016, which is an extremely high number for a player of Foles’ value.

Nick Foles’ Impact in Philadelphia

If Foles did end up returning to Philadelphia in 2016, his fantasy value will come into question. Foles would play in a system he is familiar with under Doug Pederson and with arguably more talent as well. The Eagles have firepower at the running back position with DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews and unexplored talent in a trio of wide receivers in Jordan Matthews, Josh Huff and Nelson Agholor.

Matthews was a highly sought commodity of being selected early in a position filled with talent in last year’s fantasy football drafts. He did not live up to his No. 30 ADP last season but found his game late in the year. Matthews finished 2015 catching 85-of-128 targets for 997 yards and eight touchdowns.

In a league of an immense roster turnover that happens on a yearly basis, there is no telling what will unfold in Philadelphia’s quarterback dilemma, they are facing this offseason. Philadelphia is starting the Doug Pederson era and has a laundry list of personnel decisions to make so they can clean up mistakes of the past. At the most important position in the NFL, the Eagles can’t make a mistake, or else Pederson’s tenure in Philadelphia will be short-lived.

Anthony Cervino is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Anthony check out his archive or follow him on Twitter @theRealNFLguru.