Jacksonville Jaguars the early Nick Foles favorites in free agency

The Jacksonville Jaguars are understandably the favorites to land Nick Foles as their next quarterback in free agency in 2019.

The Jacksonville Jaguars were one of the NFL’s biggest disappointments in the 2018 season.

Just one season removed from making it to (and really pushing the Patriots in) the AFC Championship game, the Jaguars stumbled in 2018 and that was due large in part to the performance of former first-round quarterback Blake Bortles.

Bortles’s 2017 campaign proved to be Fool’s Gold, just as everyone outside of Jaguars management anticipated, and he was benched in 2018 for Cody Kessler.

With Tom Coughlin working behind the scenes on a roster that was in the AFC title game two seasons ago, it stands to reason the Jaguars — who pick 7th overall in the 2019 NFL Draft — would opt for a proven, veteran option at the quarterback position as opposed to an unproven rookie.

That, along with the hiring of John DeFilippo as offensive coordinator, make the marriage between the Jaguars and Nick Foles arguably the most sensible in the entire league this offseason.

Adam Schefter of ESPN says that’s the smart bet at this point as well.

Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman announced at the 2019 Scouting Combine that he would be letting the former Super Bowl MVP walk to free agency instead of franchise tagging and trading him.

The latter situation would have put Foles in a really bad situation, and the Eagles really did him a solid here by simply letting him go.

They should get a third-round compensatory pick in 2020 for him, and in comparison to the Broncos trading a 4th-round pick for Joe Flacco, that seems like a great deal for Philadelphia.

If the Jaguars acquire Foles in free agency as many expect them to, that will take them out of the market for a quarterback in the first-round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

That means one less suitor for teams like the Giants, Broncos, Redskins, or Dolphins to compete with.