The Nick Foles ‘era’ in Chicago is over

The Chicago Bears will release veteran quarterback Nick Foles, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. The Bears traded for the former Super Bowl MVP in March of 2020 with the hope he’d provide competition for Mitch Trubisky and stability in the quarterback room. It was one of many poor decisions by former general manager Ryan Pace.

Rather than continue trying to trade Foles in a rapidly drying quarterback landscape, the Bears will allow the journeyman passer an opportunity to market his services as a free agent. “Ryan Poles did the classy thing, and Nick appreciates it,” Foles” agent Justin Schulman told Garafolo.

The Foles era in Chicago totaled 10 starts, a 3-5 record, and 11 touchdown passes.

Foles, 33, will be an appealing option for teams like the Seattle Seahawks that lack a veteran presence on their quarterback depth chart. Perhaps the Atlanta Falcons will take a look, too. Veteran Marcus Mariota is the presumed starter, and rookie third-round pick Desmond Ridder might be the future answer. For now? Foles could make sense.

Releasing Foles provides the Bears with some salary-cap relief. He would’ve been a $10.66 million cap hit in 2022, but his pre-June 1 release will net Chicago a savings of $3 million (and a dead cap number of $7.66 million).

With Justin Fields entrenched as the long-term starter, and Trevor Siemian signed in free agency to be the backup, there was no reason to roster Foles as QB3 in 2022. And if we’re being honest, there was never a reason for the Bears to roster him at all.