Nick Foles reminds me of Kirk Cousins. I think he can do a lot of the same things, and they’ve been playing in the same kind of offense.
They have a coach in common. John DeFilippo was the quarterbacks coach in Philadelphia in 2017, sitting in a lot of meetings with Foles. DeFilippo took the offensive coordinator job in Minnesota last year, working with Cousins. Now DeFilippo is the coordinator in with the Jaguars, and they’re bringing in Foles to the run the offense.
In Minnesota last year, DeFilippo had Cousins getting rid of the ball quickly, settling for safe completions. He completed 70 percent of his passes. That was 2nd-highest among quarterbacks who started at least half the season, behind only Drew Brees.
Foles didn’t start half the season, but he completed 72 percent. He was able to outplay Carson Wentz, I think, primarily by getting the ball out on time. Wentz was tending to hold it, hoping for big plays, so he took 31 sacks in 11 games. Foles took only 17 sacks in his 14 starts with the Eagles in the 2017-18 seasons.
(On both of the following charts, I’m showing the 32 quarterbacks who started at least half the season. I’m also sneaking in Foles to compare the numbers.)
| COMPLETION PERCENTAGE | |
|---|---|
| Player | Pct |
| Drew Brees, N.O. | 74.4% |
| Nick Foles, Phil. | 72.3% |
| Kirk Cousins, Min. | 70.1% |
| Carson Wentz, Phil. | 69.6% |
| Matt Ryan, Atl. | 69.4% |
| Derek Carr, Oak. | 68.9% |
| Marcus Mariota, Ten. | 68.9% |
| Deshaun Watson, Hou. | 68.3% |
| Philip Rivers, LAC | 68.3% |
| Cam Newton, Car. | 67.9% |
| Dak Prescott, Dall. | 67.7% |
| Andrew Luck, Ind. | 67.3% |
| Ben Roethlisberger, Pit. | 67.0% |
| Mitchell Trubisky, Chi. | 66.6% |
| Matthew Stafford, Det. | 66.1% |
| Patrick Mahomes, K.C. | 66.0% |
| Eli Manning, NYG | 66.0% |
| Tom Brady, N.E. | 65.8% |
| Russell Wilson, Sea. | 65.6% |
| Jared Goff, LAR | 64.9% |
| Jameis Winston, T.B. | 64.6% |
| Nick Mullens, S.F. | 64.2% |
| Ryan Tannehill, Mia. | 64.2% |
| Baker Mayfield, Clev. | 63.8% |
| Alex Smith, Wash. | 62.5% |
| Aaron Rodgers, G.B. | 62.3% |
| Case Keenum, Den. | 62.3% |
| Andy Dalton, Cin. | 61.9% |
| Joe Flacco, Balt. | 61.2% |
| Blake Bortles, Jac. | 60.3% |
| Sam Darnold, NYJ | 57.7% |
| Josh Rosen, Ariz. | 55.2% |
| Josh Allen, Buff. | 52.8% |
While both of those guys had high completion rates last year, neither connected on many downfield throws. If you’re going to get rid of the ball quickly, avoiding sacks, part of the trade off is that you don’t get as many of the 65-yard touchdowns. Both of these quarterbacks averaged only about 10 yards per completion.
| YARDS PER COMPLETION | |
|---|---|
| Player | Avg |
| Patrick Mahomes, K.C. | 13.3 |
| Nick Mullens, S.F. | 12.9 |
| Jared Goff, LAR | 12.9 |
| Philip Rivers, LAC | 12.4 |
| Russell Wilson, Sea. | 12.3 |
| Josh Allen, Buff. | 12.3 |
| Jameis Winston, T.B. | 12.3 |
| Deshaun Watson, Hou. | 12.1 |
| Baker Mayfield, Clev. | 12.0 |
| Sam Darnold, NYJ | 12.0 |
| Aaron Rodgers, G.B. | 11.9 |
| Matt Ryan, Atl. | 11.7 |
| Tom Brady, N.E. | 11.6 |
| Andy Dalton, Cin. | 11.4 |
| Ben Roethlisberger, Pit. | 11.3 |
| Eli Manning, NYG | 11.3 |
| Ryan Tannehill, Mia. | 11.2 |
| Blake Bortles, Jac. | 11.2 |
| Mitchell Trubisky, Chi. | 11.2 |
| Marcus Mariota, Ten. | 11.1 |
| Carson Wentz, Phil. | 11.0 |
| Drew Brees, N.O. | 11.0 |
| Dak Prescott, Dall. | 10.9 |
| Andrew Luck, Ind. | 10.7 |
| Case Keenum, Den. | 10.7 |
| Alex Smith, Wash. | 10.6 |
| Derek Carr, Oak. | 10.6 |
| Joe Flacco, Balt. | 10.6 |
| Cam Newton, Car. | 10.6 |
| Josh Rosen, Ariz. | 10.5 |
| Matthew Stafford, Det. | 10.3 |
| Kirk Cousins, Min. | 10.1 |
| Nick Foles, Phil. | 10.0 |
The other factor here is that Jacksonville doesn’t seem to really have the personnel to run that kind of offense. They’ve been drafting in recent years as if they wanted to pound people with the run, setting up deep passes off play action. They don’t have a Zach Ertz or Kyle Rudolph at tight end. They don’t have a good pass-catching running back. They’re pretty lean at wide receiver at well. Dede Westbrook is a neat little player, I think, but Keelan Cole and DJ Chark are deep threat receivers, rather than guys you want plunking along at 11 yards per catch. Chris Conley wasn’t much of a factor in Kansas City, and Marqise Lee missed last year with a knee injury (is he even making the team?)
In Minnesota, Mike Zimmer didn’t like DeFilippo – thought he didn’t call enough running plays. He fired him after 13 games. I will be interested to see what direction this Jacksonville offense goes. Do Doug Marrone and Tom Coughlin want DeFilippo dialing up a bunch of short passing plays? Or would they prefer to stick with more of a run-oriented approach?
—Ian Allan