The Jacksonville Jaguars will be without Nick Foles for today’s organized team activities — and quite possibly beyond. According to the team, Foles has been excused from OTAs indefinitely for personal reasons.
Coach Doug Marrone hinted at the issue being family-related, telling the media that the team’s thoughts and prayers were with the Foles family. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo added that the veteran quarterback could be back by the end of the week, but for the moment his absence is open-ended.
Foles was the Jags’ biggest free-agent acquisition of the offseason after they moved on from Blake Bortles. Foles signed the most expensive free-agent deal in Jaguars history, a four-year deal worth $88 million with $50 million guaranteed. That came as a result of the veteran leading the Philadelphia Eagles through two postseason runs from 2017-2018, including a victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
With the Jags basically being in pajamas, Foles’ absence isn’t a big deal and will allow the younger quarterbacks – Tanner Lee, Alex McGough and Gardner Minshew – to get some valuable time on the field. That said, we’d like to send our thoughts and prayers to Foles and his family as well because as we’ve said before, some issues are bigger than football.
It’s never a good sign when a coach has to couch a player’s absence by saying “thoughts and prayers” are with them and their family. From a football standpoint, missing a single day of practice in May is unlikely to have any huge effects long term, as by all accounts Foles already has a firm grasp of the Jaguars new offense thanks to his familiarity with offensive coordinator John DeFilippo. But the most important thing is that Foles does whatever he needs to for his family.
Foles has gotten positive reviews so far in OTA practices, as one would expect, connecting on multiple deep throws and generally looking like a real NFL quarterback. With Foles gone, I would expect sixth-round pick Gardner Minshew to get the lion’s share of the snaps with the first team, as he tries to cement his position as the team’s primary backup.
