The Eagles wisely are playing coy about a possible trade of Nick Foles, treating it as something they’ll do only if they get the kind of windfall they want. The reality could be that they ultimately need to take the best possible offer they can get for Foles.
The trade that brings defensive end Michael Bennett to Philadelphia also brings into focus the depleted draft class the Eagles are scheduled to have in 2018. Jimmy Kempski of PhillyVoice.com lists the picks the Eagles have and explains the picks the Eagles have lost, via the Carson Wentz trade (second-round pick to Cleveland), the Ronald Darby trade (third-round pick to Buffalo), the Jay Ajayi trade (a fourth-round pick acquired in a trade that sent Eric Rowe to New England, to Miami), and the Bennett trade (a fifth-round pick acquired in a trade that sent Matt Tobin to Seattle, back to Seattle).
The end result is that the Eagles have their first-round pick (No. 32), a fourth-round pick from the Vikings in the Sam Bradford trade (No. 130), their fourth-round pick (No. 132), their fifth-round pick (No. 169), their sixth-round pick (No. 206), and three seventh-round picks (one from the Seahawks, their own, and a compensatory pick).
Absent further trades -- for example, a deal to send Nick Foles to another team, the Eagles will see 98 players drafted from when they’re on the clock to end Thursday night until they’re back on the clock on Saturday afternoon.
Apart from the fact that the Eagles need more draft picks is the reality that Foles, through his agents, may soon be clamoring for a chance to play this year, and to be paid accordingly. When the Eagles traded Bradford two years ago, the Eagles otherwise intended to put him on the field. Foles is slated to be the backup, and to make a mere $7 million; surely, he’s interested in not being a backup and not making only $7 million.
So, basically, the combination of the Eagles needing to replenish picks and Foles wanting a chance to strike while the Super Bowl MVP iron is hot and teams already making offers that the Eagles are summarily rejecting suggests that, at some point before the 2018 draft, the Eagles will realize that they should do the best deal possible for Foles, who otherwise will be able to walk away a year from now as a free agent.