By Mary Cunningham
You’ve got to hand it to Eagles quarterback Nick Foles.
Amid all the rumors swirling around Philly these days that he will be traded and that coach Chip Kelly is maneuvering to move up so he can draft his heartthrob QB Marcus Mariota, who played for him at Oregon, Foles is steadfast in his belief that he will be the Birds’ signal-caller in 2015.
“Yeah you hear about it,” Foles told NJ.com in between doing paid appearances at Super Bowl XLIX. “You are going to hear about it every single year. That’s just part of it. The main word is ‘rumor.’ You can’t put too much into it….I plan on being in Philly.
“I only listen to (head coach) Chip Kelly. That’s what is most important. He is the one that will make the decision,” Foles said. “Right now all I am going to do is work because I plan on being back in Philadelphia and playing with my team. That’s all I ever thought. So that is what I plan on doing and I’m not looking at it any other way.”
He threw 10 interceptions in eight games before suffering what would be a season-ending collarbone fracture.
“Right now I am really testing it out. Rehab was going really well when I was in Philly,” Foles said. “You gotta be smart with it. But I feel like it’s stronger than it was before. That’s usually what happens.”
Despite the rumors, Foles says he hasn’t heard from his head coach since the end of the season.
“We haven’t talked a lot. He has a lot going on,” Foles said on if he has heard from Kelly. “This time of year you really just get away from everything. He is busy looking at the draft, doing all that. I saw he is more of the decision maker. Haven’t really talked to him too much but I’m sure I’ll hear from him soon.
“I would have been able to play if we were in the playoffs. Looking back at the first playoff game, that’s where it would have been closer to 90% healed and medically solid enough,” Foles said. “I would have been possibly the first time I could have played.”
“It’ll be too difficult watching a game you want to be playing in,” Foles said. “I’ll fly back home and get ready for next season.”
