Nick Foles has plenty of critics. Many of whom view him as a backup as evidenced by the majority of his career. He can’t stay healthy for a full season. His much-lauded Super Bowl run was due less to his own talents and more playing on a great team. These criticisms are a tad overblown but understood. However, is that enough to warrant the argument that he is not an upgrade over Mitch Trubisky?
No. Here’s why. One persistent issue that people have with Trubisky is his accuracy. There have been moments where he’s delivered some really nice passes. At the same time. there are also way too many he’s airmailed. Go through his film for just a few minutes and one is bound to find him overthrowing a wide open receiver. Pro Football Reference has new advanced stats. Ones that determine throws that were deemed bad or “throws that weren’t catchable with normal effort.”
In 2019, Trubisky had a bad throw percentage of 18.4. Which coincidentally was identical to his 2018 number. By contrast, Foles had a bad throw percentage of just 11.6. Now obviously people will argue Foles only threw 117 passes due to his collarbone injury. So how about this? Combining his previous two years, Foles threw 312 passes. His bad throw percentage in that span was 10.57. Significantly better than Trubisky’s.
Nick Foles gives his receivers a better chance to make plays
People can talk about the limited mobility and all that. In truth, Foles has the key traits of a quality NFL passer. He can hit the big throws, but what’s so understated for good quarterbacks is whether they hit the lesser throws consistently. His percentage of on-target passes in 2019 was 78.6. That would’ve ranked him 6th in the NFL just behind Kirk Cousins.
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The worst thing a quarterback can do is not even give his receivers a chance. That was and still is the persistent issue with Trubisky. It’d be one thing if he threw too many interceptions. His issue is even worse in that his receivers too often aren’t even close to the ball. He’s leaving a lot of yards and points on the field. A cardinal sin for a quarterback. That is why the Bears traded for Foles.
