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November 16, 2015

Nick Foles benched

Eagles NFL
111615NickFoles Jeff Haynes/AP

When your coach thinks Case Keenum is better than you, that's bad.

After just nine starts with the St. Louis Rams, Nick Foles is no longer "the guy," as head coach Jeff Fisher announced that Case Keenum will be taking over as the starter.

Foles' numbers this season were terrible. After a promising Week 1 win over the Seahawks, Foles was unable to throw for as many as 200 yards in any game until this past Sunday, when he hit 200 on the nose in an embarrassing loss at home to the lowly Chicago Bears.

Foles' numbers so far this year:

Comp Att Yards TD-INT Rating 
 145256 1678 7-6 75.9 


Here's where Foles ranked league-wide, among 32 quarterbacks with enough qualifying pass attempts:

 Nick FolesStat Rank 
 QB rating75.929 
 Completion %56.628 
 Yards per attempt6.5630 
 TD29 

Foles was of course part of the trade package that netted the Eagles Sam Bradford. The trade, re-visited:

 Eagles gotRams got 
 Sam BradfordNick Foles 
 5th round pick in 2015 4th round pick in 2015 
  2nd round pick in 2016


The Eagles could have recouped a pick in return from the Rams if Bradford played less than 50% of the snaps this season, which will be a near-impossibility with the Eagles having already played nine games. Both quarterbacks can be described as disappointments so far, but at least the Rams walk away with a second round pick for a player they no longer wanted.

In August, the Rams signed Foles to a contract extension, which seemed dumb then, and certainly now with hindsight. The details of that deal, via overthecap.com:

Nick Foles signed a two year contract extension worth $24.5 million with the Rams on August 8, 2015. Foles received $12.02 million in fully guaranteed salary upon signing the contract and a total of $13.7 million in guaranteed salary. The guarantee is made up of $5 million in bonus money in 2015, his 2015 base salary, and a $6 million roster bonus due in 2016. Foles can earn up to $4.5 million in performance incentives and can void his contract in 2017 based on playing time and performance.

In chart form:

The Rams are tied to Foles through the 2016 season, but they can save most of his cap hit in 2017 if he hasn't regained his job and turned into a productive quarterback by then.

For no reason, here's Foles waving atop a dragon:


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