Foles Trade Market was ‘Nothing Too Crazy’

(973espn.com) -  The Sam Bradford-like haul the Eagles wanted for Nick Foles simply wasn't there on the open market so the world's most popular backup remains in Philadelphia, at least for now.

To date, the only substantive offer made for the Super Bowl MVP was a second-round draft pick, which an NFL source told 973espn.com came from an AFC East team before the quarterback wrangling began at the start of the new league year.

Since then the obvious suspects -- the New York Jets, Buffalo and Miami -- have all added to the position in what was an atypically fertile free-agent landscape.

The Jets re-signed Josh McCown and brought in Teddy Bridgewater while Buffalo inked A.J. McCarron and Miami took a flyer on Brock Osweiler to push the returning Ryan Tannehill.

Meanwhile, the upcoming draft remains loaded with first-round grades for prospects like Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield and Lamar Jackson.

When asked if the Eagles got any "interesting trade offers" for Foles, Doug Pederson had a simple answer.

"We did not," the Eagles coach told the NFL Network at the league's annual meeting in Orlando on Saturday. "Nothing too crazy. It had to be the right deal for us to do that. But there wasn't anything coming down our way for Nick."

The one obvious ingredient when the Eagles shipped Bradford to the Minnesota Vikings for first- and fourth-round picks before the 2016 season missing now is desperation.

The Vikings considered themselves a Super Bowl contender when Bridgewater went down 11 days before the regular season and didn't want to give up on an entire year so they were willing to pay a premium for the only available option.

Unless a similar situation develops this August, something that is extremely unlikely, the Eagles have two options: keep Foles as Carson Wentz's backup for 2018 or drop their asking price.

Pederson is fine with the former and so is Foles, according to the coach.

"He's totally fine being that mentor, sort of in that backup role, helping Carson along the way," Pederson said when discussing Foles. "That's who Nick is. That's who he is. And when called upon, he's going to perform, but he understands this is Carson's team and he's going to support him every way he can."

Foles will still be the man in offseason work as Wentz rehabs from the torn ACL and LCL he suffered against the Los Angeles Rams on Dec. 10 but Wentz insists he will be ready to go when the regular season begins on Sept. 6, likely against the Vikings in a rematch of the NFC Championship Game at Lincoln Financial Field.

-John McMullen covers the Eagles and the NFL for 973espn.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen