According to a published report Monday, the Browns made a play for Eagles quarterback Nick Foles at the outset of the 2013 season, but Philadelphia declined their trade offer.
Phil Sheridan of ESPN.com reports the Browns offered wide receiver Josh Gordon for Foles. The Browns’ then-chief executive officer, Joe Banner, was formerly president of the Eagles.
According to ESPN, the deal was offered when Gordon was set to serve a two-game suspension to begin 2013 and Michael Vick, not Foles, was the Eagles’ starting quarterback.
Foles and Gordon would have Pro Bowl seasons for their respective clubs in 2013. However, the following year, Gordon missed 11-of-16 games because of suspensions, and Foles sat out the last eight games because of a broken collarbone. Since the end of the 2014 regular season, Gordon has been banned again, this time for a full calendar year.
Were this deal consummated, it would have been a fascinating transaction. Would Foles have settled in as the Browns’ long-term starter? If so, would the Browns have even considered Johnny Manziel? And what would Gordon’s emergence have done for the Eagles’ receiving corps, which has since regained Jeremy Maclin, gained Jordan Matthews and lost DeSean Jackson? There’s also the matter of whether the Eagles, sans Foles, would have been big players for a quarterback in the 2014 draft.
