Nick Foles never thought about opting out, ‘feels right at home’ with Bears
By John Buhler
Nick Foles was never planning on opting out of the 2020 NFL season.
Nick Foles has a starting quarterback job to win with the Chicago Bears in 2020.
Foles met with the Chicago media on Friday, where he put to rest any notion he might have opted out of the 2020 NFL season. Rumors circulated he might have considered this with a newborn child at home, but “there was never a discussion about opting out.” Foles is entering his first season with the Bears after being traded over from the Jacksonville Jaguars this offseason.
"There was never a discussion about opting out," says #Bears QB Nick Foles. There were some rumors he might earlier this week. The Foles family has a newborn.
— JJ Stankevitz (@JJStankevitz) July 31, 2020
After having great success over two stints with the Philadelphia Eagles, Foles signed a lucrative contract with the Jaguars during 2019 NFL free agency. He ended up breaking his collarbone in Week 1’s loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. Foles went 0-4 as a starter and lost his starting job to rookie Gardner Minshew out of Washington State University.
Foles added “I feel right at home” in the Bears offense, as he should. It’s a big reason why the Bears traded for him. He played in this offense under Bears head coach Matt Nagy when they were with the Kansas City Chiefs. Offensive coordinator Bill Lazor was on the same 2013 Philadelphia Eagles team as Foles. Quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo was in Jacksonville last year.
Nick Foles, who's played in versions of Matt Nagy's offense in Kansas City & Philadelphia, says: "I feel right at home" in it.
— JJ Stankevitz (@JJStankevitz) July 31, 2020
Nick Foles has a tremendous opportunity to win the Bears’ starting job.
As soon at Mitchell Trubisky‘s fifth-year option for 2021 was declined, it firmly kicked open the door for someone else to have a shot at being the Bears’ starting quarterback. While Trubisky has a winning record as the Bears’ starter, he seems to have hit a definite ceiling as a passer entering his fourth year in the league out of North Carolina. That’s fine, but he went No. 2 overall in 2017.
Though Foles is a journeyman at-best quarterback, he has shown recently he can succeed in flashes. Everybody is well aware of his Super Bowl 52 MVP season back in 2017, the one where his Eagles beat Tom Brady’s New England Patriots at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Foles became a living legend in the City of Brotherly Love after that monumental Super Bowl run.
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A year later, Eagles starting quarterback Carson Wentz got hurt again down the stretch and Foles had to come in to keep the season afloat. He was one pass away from getting the Eagles back to the NFC Championship game. His two postseason runs parlayed into that massive contract with the Jaguars that didn’t pan out initially. With two years left on the deal, it may work out in Chicago.
Foles wasn’t going to opt out in 2020 because he has the Bears’ starting quarterback job to win.