Every season, there are teams that drastically improve after the offseason. Last season, that honor went to the Kansas City Chiefs; however, this season, the most improved team is undoubtedly the Philadelphia Eagles. In 2013, right after Philadelphia Eagles starting QB Michael Vick got injured and was announced to be out for much of the season, all of the attention and pressure of NFL fans everywhere turned to the then-backup quarterback Nick Foles. Prior to this, Nick Foles had started a couple of games; however, he was never outstanding. He became known for his lack of pocket presence, and consistently threw terrible interceptions when trying to force the ball into the hands of covered players. Because of this, most people wrote off the Eagles; however, they were wrong. After having an absolutely amazing year, Foles will be given his first opportunity to start the season as a QB1 in 2014, and though some are skeptical about his abilities and are calling last season a fluke, he will have a great year.
As of right now, the NFL is moving away from mobile quarterbacks. For the last two seasons, the read option and mobile quarterbacks were supposed to be the future; however, after multiple injuries to players such as RGIII and the inconsistently play of players like QB Colin Kaepernick, QB Geno Smith, and QB Michael Vick, it is clear that pocket passers are more necessary now than ever. Foles fits this role perfectly. Michael Vick was a great quarterback in his prime; however, his style of football was outdated. With Foles as the QB, the Eagles will be able to transform their team into a purely passing offense, which will be the biggest improvement for the team.
When looking at his numbers alone, Foles is clearly one of the best quarterbacks in the league, and probably the most underrated. Last season, with only 10 starts, Foles was hands down the best quarterback in the league. Over the 10 games that he started, he threw 27 touchdown passes and only two interceptions. This is the best ratio with a minimum of 25 touchdown passes ever, and he was only three touchdown passes away from breaking Patriots’ QB Tom Brady’s ratio record with a minimum of 30 thrown touchdowns. Most impressively, Foles had a quarterback rating of over 119.0, and was one of the most composed pocket passers in the entire league.
Going into 2014, the biggest hole that the Eagles needed to fill was the spot vacated by WR DeSean Jackson. During the 2014 NFL draft, the Eagles drafted his replacement, WR Jordan Matthews, who has already started to develop a strong chemistry with Foles. Matthews is very similar to WR DeSean Jackson. Both are very big players who will act as deep threat wide receiver; however, from what has been seen so far, Matthews is much faster, and has a better build and hands. Sure, there might be some first year jitters, but they should be able to work this out during a long offseason.
Expect a great 2014 season from the Eagles.
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Thank you for reading. Ron Leyba is the lead editor of Fantasy Football Overdose, and a LastWordOnSports Analyst. For more of his NFL articles, follow his updates at NFL Fantasy Football Rankings Facebook or follow him on twitter @ronniedare. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
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