Extra Points: Foles feels wanted in St. Louis

Mar 13, 2015 - 10:23 PM Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - NFL power brokers tend to play things close to the vest so if you really want to know what they're thinking, ignore the words and watch the actions.

Chip Kelly was never enamored with Nick Foles in Philadelphia despite the fact that the lengthy signal caller was really the only player who took the coach's supposed "quarterback-proof" system and turned it into NFL wins.

Kelly is an impressive 20-12 as a head coach over his first two regular seasons with three different starting QBs, Michael Vick, Foles and Mark Sanchez. Foles was at the helm for 14 of those victories (14-4), throwing 40 touchdowns against just 12 interceptions for a man who ignored the positives to pick at the flaws.

At 6-foot-5 with little foot speed and a third-round pedigree from the franchise's prior regime, Foles just doesn't have the mobility Kelly likes, a reality that the former Oregon mentor felt hampered Foles' ability to run the read-option, a staple of Chip's up-tempo offense.

Meanwhile, Kelly also nitpicked over the fact that Foles didn't possess Brett Favre's fastball, along with the fourth-year player's accuracy and his perceived inability to make quicker decisions with the ball in his hand.

Yet, Vick, a former No. 1 overall pick and perhaps the beat athlete to ever play the QB position, was just 2-4 as Kelly's front man after beating out Foles at the start of the 2013 season and Sanchez, a former fifth-overall selection with a stronger arm, was only 4-4 as Foles' injury replacement at the end of the '14 campaign.

Now Sam Bradford brings his supposed accuracy and razor-sharp decision making as a former No. 1 overall pick to Philadelphia, things that resulted in a less-than-awe-inspiring 18-30-1 starting record with a nondescript 79.3 passer rating for the St, Louis Rams.

Kelly shipped his only successful QB and a second-round pick to the Show Me State for Bradford as the perception that the coach never really wanted Foles morphed into reality.

"It's not what I didn't see in Nick Foles," Kelly claimed. "It's like LeSean (McCoy) (who Kelly also traded) -- we would like to keep them all but I think to get somebody or to do things you're going to have to give things up."

So what exactly did Kelly get?

Well, no one knows Bradford better than the Rams and their general manager, Les Snead, and head coach, Jeff Fisher, were busy removing their masks after the heist they perpetrated on Kelly, a novice in the player-personnel world.

The Rams gladly swapped pedigree and the siren's song of potential, devalued by a lack of production and two ACL injuries, for achievement.

"Deleting Sam Bradford wasn't going to be the solution to our (QB) problem," Snead said. "Any solution was going to come in the addition. Long story short, the reason that made our trade the other day the right fit was the addition of Nick Foles because our conundrum at quarterback was going to require an addition.

"What made it awesome is this: you got a young guy who's got a lot of physical skills to play in this league. He's got a lot of metrics that show you how he can produce on the field, but the best thing about Nick is this, is he's won games."

Style points and reputation at the college level seem to matter to Kelly but mean very little to an organization like the Rams, who have been suffering through a culture of losing while waiting for Bradford to tap into his upside.

Foles, on the other hand, has already clicked on this level and you can tell Kelly's odd dismissiveness of his skill set was wearing thin on the 26-year- old Texas native.

"I felt really good about (the trade)," Foles said. "I was honored that a team wanted me."

Think about that, in a league that values bottom-line success over all else, a quarterback who threw for 27 TDs against just two interceptions for a NFL- leading 119.2 passer rating in '13, and amassed a gaudy .778 winning percentage over his past two seasons felt unwanted.

Kelly's trash is Fisher's treasure, though, and the Rams' veteran coach was ecstatic to take on this reclamation project.

"(Foles') '13 (season) was so impressive, what he was able to do, all the throws," Fisher said. "We really felt like he fits into our style of offense. The mobility, the athleticism. He loves to put it down the field. He'd be the first to tell you he likes to put it down the field and we've got guys that can do that."

Maybe that's just 20 years of experience versus two, along with the ability to understand the job requirements of any coach starts with his ability to accentuate the strengths of a player while masking as many deficiencies as possible.

And Foles is starting to figure out he finally has a leader looking to build on his talent rather than undermine it.

"It's a great opportunity to be with a great team," Foles said. "It's an honor to be here. It's definitely a new start, but I'm going to continue to be me. I think being the best quarterback you can be is just being who you are."