The St. Louis Rams currently have a big decision to make. Do they let their newly-acquired quarterback Nick Foles play out his contract year or do they sign him to a long-term contract?
St. Louis acquired Foles from Philadelphia for often-injured quarterback Sam Bradford and a swap of draft picks.
Bradford wore out his welcome in St. Louis after being drafted #1 overall in the 2010 NFL Draft. He couldn’t stay healthy and clearly needed a change of scenery.
Foles has also dealt with his fair share of injuries in his first three years in the NFL. He’s coming off a broken collarbone injury that ended his season early in 2014.
Should the Rams see what they have with Foles before backing up the money truck?
St. Louis has been drafting near the top of the NFL Draft for the last five or six years. Also, they traded Robert Griffin III to the Redskins for a metric ton of draft picks. They have some nice, young players, but up until recently, most of them was on the defensive side of the ball. I believe drafting Todd Gurley, Tre Mason and Tavon Austin will prove to be wise long-term decision.
The Rams play in the toughest division in football. Seattle, San Francisco and Arizona have railroaded St. Louis in recent years. San Francisco looks like they’ve taken a hit with retirement of some key players, so there’s room for St. Louis near the top.
The Rams need to decide if they want to ‘contend now’ or keep stock-piling young players. If they think they are close, they should sign Foles to a long-term deal…but if they think they are still a few years away, let him play through the season. They would risk him getting some major offers when he hits free agency.
What would I do?
I would take the risk and let him play out the season. Foles hasn’t shown he can start a full season of games without missing time due to injury. The Rams can’t be saddled with a big contract at this point if he can’t stay on the field.
General managers get fired for bad quarterback decisions…so Les Snead is due for a few sleepless night.
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About the Author…
Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of ‘America’s White Boy’ and contributor at Project Shanks. His writing has been featured on ESPN’s ‘SportsNation’, Sports Illustrated’s Hot Clicks, Guyspeed, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at @Sweetbob.