JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Jaguars are trying to mitigate one of the costliest mistakes in franchise history. The Chicago Bears could benefit from the purge.
The Jaguars agreed Wednesday to trade quarterback Nick Foles to the Bears for a compensatory fourth-round draft pick, according to a person familiar with the transaction. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the trade was not yet official.
The Jaguars are dumping Foles a little more than a year after giving the 2018 Super Bowl MVP a four-year, $88 million contract that included a whopping $50.125 million guaranteed.
The Bears are getting a veteran starter to compete with Mitchell Trubisky, who struggled in his third season. They are expected to rework Foles’ contract, which has three years remaining.
Foles is due to make $15.125 million in 2020 and would have counted $21.837 million against Jacksonville’s salary cap. Dealing him will still be costly for the Jaguars — they will take on $18.75 million in dead money this fall — but it will free up about $35 million over the next two years. Jacksonville saves a little more than $3 million in 2020 by trading him.
The Jaguars are in full rebuild mode after their 10th losing season in the last 12 years. Last March, owner Shad Khan, general manager Dave Caldwell and coach Doug Marrone raved about Foles and what it meant to finally have a franchise quarterback after a decades-long search that saw Jacksonville try Byron Leftwich, David Garrard, Blaine Gabbert, Chad Henne and Blake Bortles.
But the 31-year-old Foles ended up being the latest bust in Jacksonville. He broke his left collarbone early in the season opener, missed the next eight games and then got benched in his third game back.
Rookie Gardner Minshew, a sixth-round draft pick from Washington State, played well enough in Foles’ absence to make Caldwell and Marrone believe he’s got more upside moving forward. It also made Foles expendable.
Jacksonville had been willing to keep Foles as a high-priced backup. But a wild carousel of QB moves to open free agency _ Philip Rivers to Indianapolis, Tom Brady reportedly to Tampa Bay and Teddy Bridgewater to Carolina _ created a market for Foles.
Now, he heads to the Windy City.
Bears general manager Ryan Pace has made it clear the team is committed to Trubisky despite his regression in 2019. Pace largely tied his reputation to Trubisky by trading up a spot with San Francisco to draft him with the No. 2 overall pick in 2017, ahead of Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and Houston’s Deshaun Watson. While Mahomes and Watson have emerged as two of the best quarterbacks in the league, Trubisky has mixed some promising flashes with poor decisions and even worse throws.
The Bears were hoping he would take a big step forward last season — his second in coach Matt Nagy’s system — but that did not happen. His yards (3,138), completion rate (63.2%), touchdowns (17) and rating (83) all dropped from the previous year.
Foles, meanwhile, completed 77 of 117 passes for 736 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions in four games last season. He also ran four times for 23 yards and lost two fumbles.
He was the most coveted free-agent quarterback on the market in 2019 after leading Philadelphia to four playoff victories over two seasons, including the franchise’s first NFL title since 1960. He earned 2018 Super Bowl MVP honours and a season later made himself the league’s top QB commodity.
Jacksonville will turn to Minshew for the foreseeable future. Joshua Dobbs will serve as Jacksonville’s backup. The Jags traded a fifth-round pick to Pittsburgh last September for Dobbs.
Still, Caldwell and Marrone will forever be saddled with badly botching Jacksonville’s quarterback situation in consecutive years.
With former top executive Tom Coughlin calling the shots, the Jaguars paid Bortles a three-year, $58 million contract in February 2018. The deal included $26.5 million guaranteed and cost the Jags $16.5 million in dead money last year. It was the highest dead-money cap hit in NFL history.
The Jaguars topped that by trading Foles and raised their two-year total for paying quarterbacks to not play for them to $35.25 million.
That kind of fiscal squandering essentially forced Jacksonville to part with several defensive veterans over the last two years, including cutting safety Tashaun Gipson, defensive tackle Malik Jackson and defensive tackle Marcell Dareus, and trading cornerback A.J. Bouye and defensive end Calais Campbell.
The upside for Jacksonville: Caldwell and Marrone now have 12 picks in the upcoming draft, including seven in the first four rounds.
CALGARY – The Calgary Stampeders named receiver Marken Michel as this year’s recipient of the Herm Harrison Memorial Award on Thursday.
The honour, established in 2013, recognizes outstanding community service. Harrison was a tight end with the Stampeders from 1964-72, earning West Division all-star honours six times while being named a league all-star on three occasions.
Harrison remained in Calgary following his career and continued supporting numerous community initiatives. Harrison was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Stampeders retired his No. 76.
Harrison registered 443 career catches for 6,693 yards and 43 touchdowns. He died in November 2013.
Michel, 31, a Florida native in his fifth season with Calgary, is an active participent in many of the CFL club’s community programs. That incluces Every Yard Counts, which features player visits to the Alberta Children’s Hospital the night before each home game.
Michel has also often led groups of teammates into the downtown core to distribute food and water to those in need.
“One of the toughest questions in life is what is my purpose and my assignment in life?” Michel said in a statement. “What you wake up thinking about and what you think about constantly before you go to sleep is a clue as to what your purpose and assignment is in life.
“Your assignment is any problem you were created to solve on the Earth. What you love is a clue to the gift and wisdom you contain to complete your assignment. What you hate is a clue to something you are assigned to correct. What grieves you is a clue to something you are assigned to heal. These are my constant reminders to make a difference.”
Past winners include: Rob Cote (2013), Randy Chevrier (2014), Bo Levi Mitchell (2015-16), Joshua Bell (2017), Rob Maver (2018-19), Kamar Jorden (2021), Colton Hunchak (2022) and Reggie Begelton (2023).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2024.
Former Toronto Raptors guard Danny Green has announced his retirement from the NBA.
The 37-year-old spent 15 years in the league, with a reputation for his “three-and-D” play and helping three teams to an NBA title, including the Raptors.
“I’m officially moving on from the game of basketball and the NBA,” Green said on his YouTube channel. “It’s been a great run. I’m very proud to be able to walk away from the game. I’m at peace with it. I wasn’t at first, but I think it’s one of those things — once I turned 37, the body started reacting a little differently.”
Green joined Toronto in 2018 when he was traded by the San Antonio Spurs alongside Kawhi Leonard for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and a protected 2019 first-round pick, a move that changed the course of Raptors history as they won their first-ever NBA title that season.
He shot a career-high 45.5 per cent from three-point range, averaging 10.3 points across 80 regular-season games with Toronto.
He also won titles in 2013-14 with the Spurs — alongside Leonard — and with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2019-20.
Green was a starter on all three championship clubs.
“People ask me, ‘How did you learn how to become a winner? How do you become a leader?’” Green said. “And it’s the people before me, the people that have taught me, my coaches. They prepared me to be successful because ultimately I’m just a normal kid. I had some height, but I was not freakishly athletic. I just worked very hard, and I had the good resources around me to learn how to be professional and do things the right way.”
Green, a second-round pick (46th overall) by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2009, averaged 8.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 832 career games. He also spent time with the Philadelphia 76ers and Memphis Grizzlies.
Green retires with 1,577 three-pointers, 43rd-most in NBA history. He’s one of only 12 players to make that many three -pointers and shoot at least 40 per cent from beyond the arc.
He’s also ninth in post-season three-pointers, with 315 of those.
Green is one of only four players — Kyle Korver, Rashard Lewis and Trevor Ariza are the others — to make as many three-pointers as he did without being a first-round draft pick
Green last played for the 76ers during the 2023-24 season, appearing in only two games before being waived in November.
He said he’s hoping to work in media and indicated that he has some opportunities to consider.
“I’m excited for the next chapter, the next journey,” Green said.
With files from The Associated Press.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2024.
TORONTO – The 2024 Grey Cup will be broadcast south of the border by CBS Sports Network.
The CFL’s championship game will be held Nov. 17 at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver.
CBS Sports Network is an American digital cable and satellite television network. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global.
CBS Sports Network was scheduled to carry 34 regular-season CFL games in 2024. Included were the season kickoff, the league’s Labour Day matchups.
The American broacaster will carry the Ottawa Redblacks-Montreal Alouettes contest Monday afternoon.
Its final regular-season broadcast before the Grey Cup will be the Calgary Stampeders visiting the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Oct. 18.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to have the biggest game of the season on CBS Sports Network,” CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said in a statement. “Since the day we announced this partnership, our American fans have wanted nothing more than to see the Grey Cup on TV.
“And now, with this momentous announcement, the countdown begins to the sights, surprises and spectacle that we have in store for Vancouver.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2024.
