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As Nick Foles retires, his former Eagles teammates share memories – NBC Sports Philadelphia

Madoc Meredith September 17, 2024

Brandon Graham didn’t have to think long about his fondest memory of Nick Foles.

It happened in 2017, when Foles returned to the Eagles after a few years away and a rocky second chapter of his NFL career. Foles told Graham how he had considered retirement before the 2016 season before ultimately deciding to sign with Andy Reid in Kansas City, a move that gave his career a new lease of life.

The following offseason, the Eagles were looking for a backup quarterback and called Foles.

You know the rest of the story.

“If he had resigned,” Graham said, “who knows what would have happened. We’re probably not even talking about the Super Bowl.”

There’s another timeline in an alternate reality where Foles retires before 2016. He never returns to Philly. He never becomes the folk hero who stepped in for Carson Wentz to present a Lombardi Trophy. Graham never becomes a hero himself for his strip sack of Tom Brady. Hell, there’s no Philly Special!

In this other world, the Eagles are still yearning for their first Super Bowl title.

“I’m glad he didn’t (retire),” Graham said.

So it is with the rest of Philadelphia. On Monday night, years after he first thought about it, will officially retire from the NFL. He will do so as a member of the Eagles and will be honored in front of a sold-out crowd at the Linc.

As everyone prepares to honor Foles on Monday night, we took a look at the ever-shortening list of current Eagles who were his teammates in Philadelphia. Only eight players and one position coach remain: Brandon Graham, Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata, Dallas Goedert, Jake Elliott, Rick Lovato, Avonte Maddox, Josh Sweat and OL coach Jeff Stoutland.

EN Brandon Graham

Graham is the Eagles’ longest-tenured player and the only one on the current team who was in Philly when Foles was drafted in the third round in 2012.

What is his biggest memory of rookie Nick Foles?

“Well, he had hair,” Graham said.

Graham also remembers Foles’ skills on the basketball court. He said Foles was confident on the hardwood.

Graham’s career is coming to an end, but this season he’s been able to be more reflective, knowing he’ll always be linked to Foles and the other 2017 Super Bowl champions.

“Someone I’ll always remember for getting us that (Super) Bowl, man,” Graham said. “He performed tremendously in a moment where he wasn’t even the man of the year. That’s how you make sure you’re ready for your moment, and he was ready for his moment. The coaches adapted to what we had, we adapted to the game plan and we executed it. I’ll always be indebted to him for that.”

OT Lane Johnson

Lane Johnson first became teammates with Foles when he was drafted in the first round in 2013, but he still remembers Foles leading Westlake against Southlake Carroll in the 2006 Class 5A Division II high school title game in Texas.

Johnson always admired Foles as a football player, but then he got to know Foles as a person.

“Football was a big part of his life, but it wasn’t his identity, which isn’t something a lot of people can say,” Johnson said. “I felt like he took it easy for us. He was just a good teammate. He always made an effort to talk to you and was just a nice guy.”

Over the course of their time together, Johnson has spent a lot of time blocking for Foles, but what Johnson notices most about his former teammate didn’t happen on the field.

It was Foles’ influence at the NovaCare complex that Johnson remembers most.

“He was really adamant about Bulletproof Coffee,” Johnson said. “He tried to get everyone in that bastard to drink Bulletproof Coffee. That’s how I remember Nick. He was a big Dave Asprey, Bulletproof Coffee man.”

Did he get Johnson?

“Sure, he got me,” said Johnson. “I still drink Bulletproof Coffee to this day. So thanks, Nick.”

OL coach Jeff Stoutland

Legendary offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland arrives at the NovaCare Complex every morning at 5:30 a.m., and as he enters the building, he passes a large picture of Foles hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.

“Sometimes I stop, take my phone and take a picture of it,” Stoutland said. “And I send it to Nick Foles and say, ‘I love you.’ And he likes that.”

Stoutland doesn’t know how to find an old photo on his phone, so every time he sends one to Foles, he takes a new one. He probably has a bunch of the same photos clogging up his storage, but at least it’s a cool picture.

Foles is revered by Eagles fans, but his coaches also have a lot of respect for him. Stoutland was asked Saturday why he thinks Foles was so successful in Philly but not at his other stops.

“I think for whatever reason, Nick was destined to be here,” Stoutland said. “You could feel it when he was in the game. You could feel him. When he came in, you could feel him. Like, ‘We’re going to get it done. Nick is in the game.'”

TE Dallas Goedert

The Eagles traded up out of the first round in 2018, so their top pick in the second round was Dallas Goedert, the top pick on a team that had just won a Super Bowl. After Wentz was injured again in 2018, Foles took over.

And the Super Bowl MVP calmed him down.

“Whenever I was in the huddle with Nick, he basically just said, ‘I’m giving you guys a chance to make plays and I expect you to make plays,'” Goedert said. “I think he did a good job of instilling confidence in everyone in the huddle. He did that. I think that was when Alshon Jeffery played his best. He didn’t have to create a lot of spacing, he could always go forward and get the ball.

“He just had confidence. He told us he had confidence before he even called the play. I feel like that just gave me the confidence to go out there and make a play.”

Goedert was drafted in the second round, but wasn’t the best tight end as a rookie. The Eagles still had Zach Ertz, who was a Super Bowl hero in his own right.

As Goedert found his way in the NFL, Foles was one of the encouraging voices in his ear.

“It was really important. It was really cool,” Goedert said. “I think I played about six games with him, he threw my first playoff touchdown to me, that was really cool. I got to experience that with him. But just the trust he put in me as a rookie was really big.”

OT Jordan Mailata

Foles helped instill confidence in Goedert, but the second-round pick had at least played football before. In 2018, Jordan Mailata was still new to the game and was beaten quite often on the scout team.

Foles was always there to encourage him. That’s what Mailata remembers most.

“He was very supportive,” Mailata said. “Every time I made a mistake or allowed a sack or messed up a run block, he was always there to cheer me up. He was always encouraging me. He was always saying, ‘It’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. You just have to keep going every day.’ He gave me some nuggets every day.

“That helped a lot because I was a little kid who didn’t know anything. As much as our veterans help us, when Foles was there, the veterans weren’t on the scout team with me. Foles was a big support.”

At the time, it seemed unlikely that Mailata would ever be truly successful. But a few years later, he was introduced to the starting lineup as left tackle and now, in his seventh year, Mailata is one of the better left tackles in the NFL.

“I think his encouragement helped me a lot with my mindset,” Mailata said. “When Nick tells you it’s OK, just play the next game. That’s what I did every day.”

Jake Elliott

As you may recall, Jake Elliott wasn’t even on the Eagles’ roster in 2017. But after an injury to Caleb Sturgis, the Eagles signed Elliott from the Bengals’ practice squad and Elliott developed into one of the best kickers in the NFL.

The specialists’ lockers are located right next to the quarterbacks in the Eagles’ locker room.

“I just remember him sitting here and just having an honest, good time in the locker room,” Elliott said. “He was a guy you could always go to, rely on for life advice and just having a good time and being a good person. Most of the memories for me are right here.”

The night before Elliott spoke about Foles, he actually saw the clip of Foles’ pass bouncing off Keanu Neal’s knee and into Torrey Smith’s hands in the 2017 playoffs. It was a funny memory.

But Elliott remembers most of all the conversations he had with Foles in the locker room and the advice he received from him to keep his composure.

“He’s obviously had a lot of ups and downs throughout his career,” Elliott said, “no matter what happens, he just has to weather the storm, keep his composure and keep going.”

LS Rick Lovato

Rick Lovato remembers a few weeks before the Super Bowl when the Eagles were practicing the Philly Special and Foles dropped the pass.

“Oh my God, I don’t know if this is going to work,” Lovato thought.

Spoiler alert: It does.

But just like Elliott, Lovato’s fondest memories of Foles have nothing to do with football. Lovato became close friends with Foles and their wives remain close to this day. Lovato remembers going to the Foles’ house for barbecues and pizza nights.

At the time, Lovato was only in his second year in the NFL, and a friendship like the one with Foles had a long-lasting impact on him.

“Once Nick was back on the team, it was so easy to talk to him about anything,” Lovato said. “I was a young player just trying to get a feel for everything around me. But he made it very, very easy. That’s one of the reasons we won the Super Bowl. We had so many experienced players that made this team stick together in every way, no matter how young or old you were.”

DB Avonte Maddox

Avonte Maddox was selected in the fourth round in 2018 when the Eagles had just won the Super Bowl. He was on the defensive side of the ball, which meant he was across from Foles at the line of scrimmage and also across from him in the locker room.

“He’s a great guy. Nick was funny. We always talked,” Maddox said. “He was over there (points to his locker), that was a plus. He talked to me the whole time. Other than that, all I know is he used to throw the no-look pass out there on the field. That was pretty cool. He’d do that and then laugh and say, ‘We got you.’ So it was definitely cool.”

DE Josh Sweat

Like Maddox, Josh Sweat was also a fourth-round pick in 2018. As a struggling rookie, Sweat didn’t get to know Foles very well.

“It was different for me because my mind was always somewhere else,” Sweat said. “I knew who he was and what he had done, so I knew he was very special, but I never felt like, ‘Oh, that’s Nick Foles,’ because I was trying to survive on my own.”

While Sweat didn’t get to know Foles as well as some of his other teammates, he did see him in practice.

“I played against him on the scout team,” Sweat said, “but obviously I can’t sack him or anything.”