Lammey: Should the Broncos go after Super Bowl LII MVP Nick Foles?

The Philadelphia Eagles shocked the world by beating the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII on Sunday, 41-33, but perhaps more shocking was quarterback Nick Foles outdueling future Hall of Famer Tom Brady.

Foles took over for Eagles starter Carson Wentz in December after the then-MVP candidate suffered a season-ending knee injury and led Philadelphia to its first championship of any kind since 1960.

With that said, the Denver Broncos are in dire need of an upgrade at quarterback, and its top option appears to be Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins. But signing him is going to come with a price tag that scares off a lot of fans.

Should the Broncos target Foles instead to be its starter?

Let’s take a look.

An old flame

The Broncos liked Foles when he came out of Arizona in 2012. There were a trio of quarterbacks Denver wanted that year (who were going to be within their range), including Foles, Brock Osweiler, and Russell Wilson.

They liked Foles so much that John Elway, then the vice president of football operations, and head coach John Fox and general manager Brian Xanders went to personally scout Foles in a game against Colorado. In that game against the Buffaloes, Foles threw for 352 yards but had only one touchdown with three interceptions.

They chose Osweiler in the second round, then Wilson and Foles both were selected in Round 3 of the 2012 NFL Draft.

Wilson has had great success and Foles just won Super Bowl MVP, while Osweiler is unlikely to return to the Broncos after a second stint with the team in 2017.

Hindsight is truly 20-20.

However, that interest they had didn’t really fade away. They simply thought Osweiler was the better option at the time. Clearly, he’s not now, and that old flame they had for Foles may not take much to reignite.

Specific offense is a must

In order to bring the best out of Foles, the Broncos would have to commit to the run-pass option as a major staple in its offense.

Foles can make plays from the pocket, and he’s not unfamiliar with working from under center. Those are both necessary assets for a pro quarterback to have, but Foles does seem more comfortable running RPOs.

In the past, the Broncos have not seemed to have a desire to change its offense that much. From the Gary Kubiak-Peyton Manning hybrid we saw in 2015 to a purer version of the Kubiak system in 2016 to whatever former offensive coordinator Mike McCoy cooked up before he was fired in 2017, the Broncos have not introduced RPOs into the offense while many around the league have.

This year, Bill Musgrave gets the full-time offensive coordinator job, and he is inventive enough to apply those type of plays to the Broncos offense. That bodes well for a quarterback like Foles, and it gives us clues as to what the Broncos would do if they selected rookie Baker Mayfield in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft.

The Broncos aren’t just adding one quarterback this offseason. I believe they’re going to add two — one through the free agency (or trade) process and another through the draft.

If they get Foles, then they need to find a backup or developmental quarterback that matches his skill set so there’s a continuity if the starter goes down.

Cheaper than Cousins?

Denver is often linked to soon-to-be (maybe?) free agent Kirk Cousins. If the Broncos can get him without trading for him, then Cousins is still going to cost them a pretty penny. In fact, it would not be surprising to see Cousins sign a new contract that pays him upward of $26 million annually.

The Broncos have to trade for Foles if they want him.

He is under contract for one more year with the Eagles at the low price (for the quarterback market) of $7.6 million. That’s backup money in today’s NFL. This quarterback-desperate league has seen guys like Osweiler or Mike Glennon get nearly $20 million annually on occasion, but even backups like Foles or Chase Daniel can make almost $10 million per year.

The Eagles will have no problem paying Foles in 2018, and they may have extra incentive to keep him.

Starting quarterback, and rising star, Carson Wentz injured his knee in Week 14 against the Los Angeles Rams. He underwent surgery in mid-December and has planned recovery around nine to 10 months. That timetable puts Week 1 of the 2018 season in doubt for Wentz.

His recovery is going to come down to the wire if it goes smoothly. Any sort of hiccups along the way, and we could see him miss more time.

The Wentz injury is simply going to make Foles much harder to get. Even though his contract may be lower than Cousins (although winning Super Bowl MVP means more money), Foles may not be cheaper in the end when it comes to total assets needed to acquire him.

So should the Broncos be interested? Of course, they should be.

But that doesn’t mean he’ll be at the top of the list. The buzz is that they’re going to make a serious run at Cousins, and until he’s wearing a Minnesota Vikings uniform, I can’t see them going hard after Foles.

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