Earlier this week, word came out that some within the NFL hoped the San Francisco 49ers would make a trade for Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles. The logic was sound; at the moment the 49ers have five prime time games that were granted thanks to the media appeal of one James Richard Garoppolo. One Garoppolo got hurt, the NFL saw a potential ratings dip and didn’t see much with C.J. Beathard.
Of course this brought debates on if the 49ers should or shouldn’t pursue Foles. If you want the short answer: the 49ers shouldn’t. It makes no sense to with the state the team is in and how much it would cost to secure Foles’ services.
Well if anyone was worried that the 49ers would give into the pressure, Kyle Shanahan shot it down at his press conference Friday. When asked about the trade in the interest of bettering the NFL’s television ratings, Shanahan had this to say:
“I laughed a little bit. It’s very comical. I wish we could worry about that stuff and help people out. That’s definitely the last of our worries. If you guys judge us on ratings and everything and they gave us a trophy at the end of the year, a Super Bowl trophy for ratings, then I would maybe think that way. But, that’s not how it works.”
That pretty much puts an end to any rumor, speculation, or indication the 49ers are going to go after Nick Foles. At least right now. If C.J. Beathard begins to struggle in Shanahan’s offense then the 49ers may be looking for a quarterback, I still don’t think it’s going to be Foles. The 49ers are not in win-now mode for 2018 and have their quarterback situation figured out with Beathard and Garoppolo. Given the developmental season, throwing picks at Foles just to have him run a scaled down offense helps no one, even if it gets a win or two.