Foles goes to the Eagles

It was a waiting game for Nick Foles, who heard his name called on Friday. Read on to see where he was drafted and the background surrounding it.

The Philadelphia Eagles made former Arizona Wildcats quarterback Nick Foles a professional football player Friday night. The Eagles selected Foles with the 25th pick in the third round (88th overall), where he will compete for a backup job to Michael Vick.

Foles enters a pretty good situation with Philadelphia where he will learn under head coach Andy Reid. He will not be asked to play any time soon (barring injury) as the Eagles signed Michael Vick to a large extension last season. Instead, Foles will get the luxury of learning on the sideline and developing his skills under a coach who possesses a solid history with quarterbacks.

In roughly three seasons as a starter at UA, Foles threw for 10,011 yards with 67 touchdowns. He completed just a shade under 67 percent of his passes as a Wildcat and led the charge of one of the most prolific offenses in college football.

Heading to Philadelphia is beneficial to the long term prognosis of Foles’ career as a NFL quarterback. He is going to need a couple of years to learn and transition to the NFL style of play. In college, Foles led a spread offense and lined up mostly in the shotgun.

As an Eagle, he must learn how to play quarterback in more of a pro-style system. With Reid, offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg and quarterbacks coach Doug Pederson, Foles has a pretty strong set of coaches to learn from. With an impressive leadership group in place for Foles, his chances of developing into a quality NFL quarterback increase.

As for the Eagles, the selection of Foles gives them a young signal-caller with a lot of potential down the road. He has NFL size – 6-foot-5, 243 pounds – and can make any throw on the field. He throws the short and medium passes with deadly accuracy, but he will have a much tougher time in the NFL throwing the ball accurately; especially on the deep ball.

Foles is a selection for the future and should not be expected to make a serious impact in his first couple of years in the NFL, but he certainly has all of the necessary physical tools to succeed on a franchise like the Eagles.

For Arizona, Foles represents the first Wildcat quarterback to be selected in the NFL Draft since Eddie Wilson was selected by the Dallas Texans in 1962.