If the Eagles do indeed plan on franchising quarterback Nick Foles, today — February 19th — is their first chance to prove it.
The window for NFL teams to place the franchise tag on players opened Tuesday, meaning the Eagles have from now until March 5th to decide whether they want to use it on Foles.
The franchise tag is expected to be around $25 million for quarterbacks.
With a cap hit that big, and a player of Foles' magnitude considering what he has accomplished in this city, there are plenty of implications for the Eagles' decision on whether to use the franchise tag.
The Money
According to OverTheCap.com, the Eagles are currently $16 million over the salary cap. That number is going to change, however, as Foles' $21 million cap hold is still on the Eagles' books. That will come off as soon as the new league year begins on March 13th since Foles declined his end of the mutual option. Subtract that $21 million from the Eagles' books and the team has roughly $5 million in salary cap space.
To place the franchise tag on Foles the Eagles would have to have the $25 million in space needed. That means they have around $20 million in salary cap space to shed. Cutting Jason Peters and Timmy Jernigan, two moves that might be coming anyway, opens up around $15 million.
There is no other obvious move to open up $5 million, although if defensive end Chris Long decides not to come back, that would open up $5.3 million. Considering the Eagles need him next season, however, they are likely hoping that doesn't happen. Restructuring players deals, like Howie Roseman does nearly every offseason, is another possibility to get under the cap enough to tag Foles.
The Risk and The Reward
Assuming the Eagles don't want Foles back, there is plenty of risk in franchising Foles. If the Eagles place the tag on Foles, and he signs it, the $25 million is fully guaranteed. That means the Eagles would be unable to remove it from their salary cap and would be committing $25 million to him as the backup to Carson Wentz. If the Eagles don't want to keep Foles, they can only place the tag on him if they are 110% sure they have a trade in place.
The potential reward? Landing a draft pick in 2019 via a trade this year for a player they were going to let walk as a free agent anyway.
RUMOR: Washington not interested in Foles?
The Trade
The likely only reason the Eagles would franchise Foles is to trade him. Eagles can't trade Foles under the franchise tag until he both signs it and the new league year begins on March 13th at 4 p.m. They can negotiate a deal with a team under the table, and execute that trade as soon as the new league year begins, but they can't officially trade Foles until March 13th. The Eagles also have to be under the salary cap by March 13th — which means if they want to trade Foles, they have to both have him under contract and be under the salary cap when the new league year begins.
Trading Foles under the franchise tag could be difficult. The other team would have to be willing to take on Foles' $25 million cap hit, which is fully guaranteed. They would also have to be willing to give up (likely) at least a third-round pick, considering the Eagles will likely get a third-round compensatory pick in 2020 if Foles signs elsewhere. They are also going to need Foles' cooperation. Foles isn't going to be traded anywhere against his will, which means he is going to have to agree to be traded to the team willing to make a deal with the Eagles. If Foles wants to go to that team, however, it is hard to see why any potential team would make a deal with the Eagles as opposed to just calling the Eagles' bluff and simply signing Foles outright.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!
