PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia Eagles honored former quarterback Nick Foles, who decided last month to end his career with the team he led to the first Super Bowl.
Foles, 35, signed a contract to end his career as an Eagle and will serve as honorary captain during his team’s Monday Night Football game against the Atlanta Falcons.
On Monday evening, Foles sat in front of the media and his family and gave a long, emotional speech in which he recapitulated his entire NFL career and his time as an Eagle.
At the beginning of his speech, Foles said he went into the news conference announcing his retirement “calm, composed and collected” until former Philadelphia Eagle Jason Kelce prompted a pregame surprise that prepared him for it.
“I get a text from Jason Kelce saying, ‘Hey, man, you want to come over and join the countdown? I have a dog mask,'” Foles said. “We go over, Fletcher Cox is there, and before I know it, we’re jumping on stage at Xfinity Live wearing two dog masks, ripping them off and cheering the crowd on.”
Foles then expressed his gratitude for being able to play for the city and the team in green.
“It was just something different wearing midnight green,” Foles said during the press conference. “I always felt something different in this city, in this stadium.”
Foles became a Philadelphia legend when he stepped in for the injured Carson Wentz during the 2017 season and led the Eagles to an improbable Super Bowl run.
“It was just my destiny to play here and I’m so grateful to have been a part of these teams and I’m grateful to be a part of this history,” Foles said at the press conference. “Playing here has made me a better person.”
“I think about what it meant to the city to win the Super Bowl and to do it the way we did against all the adversity,” Foles, who won the Super Bowl LII MVP award, told PhiladelphiaEagles.com. “I think that resonated so well in the city of Philadelphia and will forever.”
It was Foles’ second tenure in Philadelphia, where he spent the first three seasons of his career after being selected by the Eagles in the third round of the 2012 draft.
“Ending it this way is the right way and it means a lot to me,” Foles said.
Foles, who last played for the Indianapolis Colts in the 2022 season, said Monday will be the first NFL game he will attend as a non-player.
“I’ve dreamed of coming out of that tunnel at least one more time and being there with the crowd and seeing them cheering on the Eagles, cheering on this team – it’s a new team every year – and I really don’t know what the emotions are going to be like,” Foles said.
