Nick Foles was named the Eagles starting quarterback for the next 'thousand years' by head coach Chip Kelly Monday.
Chip Kelly finally ended any uncertainty about who will be the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback in the year 3013, and it will be Nick Foles.
The first-year head coach who makes a habit of being coy about who will be the team's starting quarterback on a week-to-week basis let alone who will be the signal caller next season and beyond provided the first glimpse Monday that he is prepared to go with Foles for the foreseeable future.
"Nick is the starting quarterback for the next thousand years," Kelly joked to reporters at the Novacare Complex Monday. "As long as he can stay healthy. That's why I've qualified it all the time because I don't think anybody can predict the health of anybody.
"That's the reality that no matter how many quarterbacks go down across the league and it's a very difficult game. They take a lot of hits and I understand why they want to protect the quarterbacks because they take a beating out there and when you have a guy who's durable and can last that's when you know you have your guy."
Kelly named Foles the starting quarterback for the remainder of this season last week and in spite of conducting a summer-long open competition between the second-year signal caller and Michael Vick, ultimately awarding the job to start the season to the 33-year old veteran. Monday it seemed that the first-year head coach is ready to envision a future moving forward with the quarterback who has tossed 19 touchdowns without an interception this season.
"I've been asked the question a thousand times so I will say, he is the starting quarterback for the next thousand years here." Kelly said.
To be fair, Kelly did make a point to say that he does not think long term and the furthest he is willing to look is towards Sunday's showdown with the NFC North leading Detroit Lions.
Kelly went out of his way to praise the second-year quarterback's decision making which is paramount in his offensive system.
"I don't use the word astonishing (when thinking about Foles' streak of not throwing an interception dating back to December 2012)," Kelly said. "I think it's a credit to him that he doesn't really put the ball in harms way.
"Very rarely do you look at the film and say 'I don't know about that one.'.. I'm not astonished by it, but one of the reasons he's as productive as he is is because he's really, really smart when he's got the football in his hands."
Foles is now 5-1 as a starter this season and has guided the Eagles to four straight wins.
Overall Kelly, Foles and the Eagles are taking a one-week at at time approach not only to this season but to the program that he is hoping to build here.
"I think everyone buys in and Nick is a leader by how he approaches the game and what he does," Kelly said. "I Think we have a group of guys who understand what the mission is and it's a one-week mission, it's not a one-year mission, it's not a thousand year mission, it's a one-week mission."
It may not be one thousand-year mission but in one thousand years Kelly anticipates Foles will still be starting at quarterback under center.
Matt Lombardo is the Editor-In-Chief of Eagledelphia and also an on-air personality on 97.5 FM The Fanatic in Philadelphia. Join the conversation and follow Matt on Twitter.
