Nick Foles' Contract is an Anchor on the Jaguars
Nick Foles was benched by the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday and his enormous contract is looking like a massive problem for the franchise.
Foles was pulled at the half against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after finishing the half 7-of-14 for 93 yards, with no touchdowns and an interception. He also lost two fumbles.
It got so bad the crowd was calling for rookie Gardner Minshew to enter the game:
#Jaguars fans are chanting for Gardner Minshew after Nick Foles has two turnovers in two drives. pic.twitter.com/RJaSvxidtC
— Big Sad Country (@BigCatCountry) December 1, 2019
And folks on Twitter were wondering why Foles had even regained his job after returning from injury:
Jaguars QB Nick Foles threw an interception directly to Bucs rookie linebacker Devin White. I'm still waiting for Foles to do something that suggests he's better than Gardner Minshew.
— Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) December 1, 2019
Entering Sunday, Foles had played in three games and completed 68.0 percent of his passes for 643 yards (just 6.2 yards per attempt), with three touchdowns and an interception. He's really failed to do anything of note in Jacksonville and the Jags were 0-3 in his starts.
Minshew is the better quarterback for the Jaguars right now and likely in the future. The problem? This offseason, the Jags handed Foles a four-year, $88 million deal with $50.1 million guaranteed. If they cut him, he'd cost $33.875 million against the salary cap in 2020. That's an enormous chunk of change that the Jags simply can't swallow in dead cap space.
They're stuck with Foles whether they like it or not, because no one is trading for that contract. Jacksonville's best bet would be to just bite the bullet and start Minshew until Foles' contract is manageable to cut, which it will be in 2021 when it would cost only 12.5M in dead cap space.