:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/62874098/914355782.jpg.0.jpg)
The Philadelphia Eagles officially paid Nick Foles the $1 million bonus incentive he just missed out on earning, according to a report from NFL insider Field Yates.
Source: the Eagles have paid QB Nick Foles a $1M signing bonus to account for the incentive he missed out on by just four snaps earned by Philly making the playoffs and Foles playing 33% of the snaps. Philly does right by the clutch QB.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) January 19, 2019
ESPN previously reported this was expected to happen, so this “news” hardly comes as a surprise. Just good to see the team actually followed through on their intentions.
The bonus is obviously well deserved. Foles did a great job of filling in for an injured Carson Wentz for the second year in a row. He wasn’t able to cap off his 2018 season with another Super Bowl MVP award, unfortunately, but his efforts got the Eagles within reasonable striking distance of upsetting the Saints to advance to this year’s NFC Championship Game.
With this $1 million in his pocket, Foles has now received an extra $6.75 million in incentives this season. Not bad.
It’s very possible Foles could be paying back some of that money to the Eagles in the near future. If Philadelphia picks up his $20 million option for the 2019 season, which seems likely, Foles can pay back $2 million to void the contract and become a free agent. So it’s essentially like the Eagles decreased Foles’ buyout price to $1 million by giving him this extra $1 million bonus.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Foles this offseason. If he opts out, the Eagles can still try to trade him by placing the franchise tag on him. There are complications in doing that, however, so perhaps they’ll just let him walk in free agency and hope to receive a third-round compensatory pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.