Eagles reportedly prefer to trade Nick Foles to Jaguars

The Jacksonville Jaguars are reportedly the leaders when it comes to the Nick Foles sweepstakes, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NFL insider Chris Mortensen.

Our friends at Bleeding Green Nation were kind enough to transcribe Schefter and Mortensen on ESPN Postseason NFL Countdown on Sunday morning.

Schefter started the segment talking about how the Eagles intend to franchise tag Foles:

SCHEFTER: “It sounds like the Philadelphia Eagles are going to use their franchise tag on Nick Foles. The question is how they get there. They can pick up a $20 million option a week after this game and then Nick Foles could buy back his freedom for $2 million, at which point the Eagles would franchise [tag] him. Or the Eagles could simply just save him the $2 million and just go ahead and tag him ... never pick up the option and say ‘We’re gonna tag you right now.’ That’s up to the two sides to figure out the best way to move forward. But the bottom line here is that the Eagles ARE expected to use their franchise tag on him and they ARE expected to try to trade him so they can help dictate where he winds up.

So the Eagles want to trade him and they want to decide his destination, preventing him from going to a division rival or even anyone else in the NFC. Okay, got it.

Now it’s Mortensen’s turn to throw out Jacksonville as the de facto most likely place for Foles to end up.

MORTENSEN: “And where he winds up, I think what the Eagles would like to see is something develop with the Jacksonville Jaguars, because John DeFilippo is now down there as the offensive coordinator. He was the Eagles’ quarterback coach a year ago when they won the Super Bowl. But Foles knows, and his representatives, that this is a business. He’s not going to play nice nice with the Eagles. They don’t want him to go to the Giants or the Redskins — although it was noted to me they let Donovan McNabb go to the Redskins one time and that didn’t hurt them — so it will be interesting to see how this plays out. But that’s the goal, is not to let him go inside the division, and the Jaguars being hopefully the team that gets him. And what do you think is the draft pick?

SCHEFTER: That’s what I was going to tell you, it sounds like it’s going to be a third-round draft pick. [That’s] what they’re looking for to get back for Nick Foles, a third.

There you have it, folks. The Eagles would prefer to send Foles to Jacksonville because they need a quarterback and they’re not in the NFC East.

Riveting.