Nick Foles is likely headed out of Philadelphia, creating a runway for him to take off and potentially land with another team.
Might his destination be familiar? Perhaps a little too familiar for the comfort of Eagles fans?
The prospect of Foles finding a fit with a fellow NFC East team turns the stomach of one current Eagle.
"I would hate to see him with the Giants just because I hate playing my friends, and if I end up back in Philly I'd have to play him twice a year," Eagles defensive end Chris Longtold NJ.com this week.
New York is in the market for a quarterback of the future. Eli Manning is 38 years old, spent the last two seasons behind a porous offensive line and is entering the final year of his contract. The Giants don't have a quarterback of the future, and Manning isn't a lock to bridge the gap to the next guy.
New York has $26 million in projected cap room, per Over The Cap, and that's with Manning's $23.2 million accounted for. If the Giants cut Manning, they'd carry just $6.2 million in dead money while freeing $17 million.
Foles -- whose current deal is due to pay him $20 million in his final year but has a mutual option between him and the Eagles that allows for multiple paths to freedom -- is very much in play.
Surely the Giants wouldn't cut Manning, right? He's won two Super Bowls! Well, the Giants once cut Phil Simms, two-time Super Bowl champion, after he won 11 games and made the Pro Bowl. That's a far cry from 5-11 and quiet considerations of Kyle Lauletta.
Simms, in fact, thinks Manning is being treated too well.
"It's a different world now," Simms said, again via NJ.com. "If I was in the world now, they would've never let me go because I'd have been a 'franchise quarterback.' This new phrase. Franchise. That means we bow and kiss, and that's why they keep people."
Well, that, and the lack of another viable option for Big Blue. That's why many early mock drafts have the Giants taking a quarterback at No. 6.
"I'm getting a sense the Giants are more determined now to draft a quarterback -- and I think they will," Simms said.
"The No. 6 pick? I'm not sure about that. I'll believe it when I see it. I think Eli knows if he comes back, he is going to be the starter. What rookie is going to come in and do well enough to unseat him? Now, from there, the grace period is very small."
He's right -- what rookie is going to unseat Manning after all these years?
Luckily, Foles isn't a rookie.
