Remember, Pace had long meetings with George where his job was on the line and the message that came from those meetings was 'Gotta get a QB'. His marching orders are crystal clear and communicated as such.
We know without a lot of cap space that's not a position you can fix quickly. Here's how I'm seeing this play out:
- First round pick is a QB (might involve a slight move up (sorry, but Pace is under the gun and with both the Mack and Mitch trades he's got a history of selling future assets))
- They start Foles, who's already under contract.
- When Foles either gets hurt or the season is a wash, start the rookie.
- He shows some strides, which bodes well for is development.
- Pace and Nagy go back to George talking about how they found their QB, so essentially they can say:
This is Pace and Nagy's best chance at getting an extension. We can argue if they put a better team on the field and have a late playoff run that's probably better, but that's also harder to do. If the season is all about that rookie QB's development even with cookie cutter play calling they can prop him up and buy more time.
The cap is what it is. I could see them reinforce the OL and let ARob walk. You'd think the rookie would be better served by having ARob, but Pace/Nagy can spin that to George saying 'imagine how well he'll do when we get the next Booker/Robinson/ARob?
This is just the most realistic outcome. I know many won't like it, but that's my read on the situation.
