What to Expect From Foles

Temper your expectations for this rookie

Seems like a lot of folks have unrealistic expectations for now Eagles starting QB Nick Foles. They're already asking about him attracting a big name coach for next year. That's a long way off. In all likelihood, Foles is not this team's quarterback of the future, despite his stellar preseason play.

In order to become anything resembling the franchise quarterback for the team, Foles is going to have to earn it. He has a de facto tryout process starting right now. And even good play now won't guarantee anything going forward. At best, he's playing for a chance to be the starting quarterback in 2013, a chance to put off the team's need to draft a new quarterback early.

If he can do that, great. There are going to plenty of holes on the roster next year, and if the team has already stumbled on to a capable QB, that's one less. But no one should be expecting that outcome.

A better comparison for the moment will be to the guy he replaced, Michael Vick. Below I charted the numbers for the other five rookie starting quarterbacks (Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Ryan Tannehill, Brandon Weeden and Russell Wilson) this year. Overall, they've matched or exceeded Vick at pretty much every turn:

So, can we expect Foles to match this kind of performance? Hard to tell. He, like Vick, has more offensive weapons to exploit than many of his fellow rookies. On the other hand, there's probably no worse offensive line in the league right now.

Let's remember these numbers when we're watching Foles over the next few weeks. I expect Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg will give their rookie ample opportunity to succeed within a new game plan. Given how poorly Vick played, Foles could exceed him. But there are still going to be mistakes, and plenty of them.

Again, keep your expectations low.

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