Nick Foles, Rams Agree to New Contract: Latest Details, Comments and Reaction

The St. Louis Rams are ready to bank on Nick Foles before he's ever thrown a pass in their uniform. Head coach Jeff Fisher announced, per Myles Simmons of the team's official website, that Foles and the Rams agreed to a two-year extension Friday.

Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported the deal is worth over $24 million, and the final year of the contract is subject to void based on team performance of Foles appearing in the Pro Bowl.

"I'm just thankful to be here—be with these guys, be with the Rams. Ever since I've been here...the team's opened its arms to me," Foles said, via Simmons.

Foles, 26, arrived in St. Louis this offseason via a trade from Philadelphia that sent Sam Bradford the other way. Foles spent his first three NFL seasons with the Eagles, experiencing largely up-and-down affairs that saw him look like a franchise quarterback one moment and borderline unplayable the next.

Undeterred, St. Louis approached Foles over the summer about a long-term contract extension. He was heading into the last year of his rookie contract, which called for a $1.5 million base salary. Because he was a third-round pick, the Rams did not have the option of extending his contract by just one year as they would have with a first-rounder. 

"This is where I want to play," Foles said in June, per ESPN.com's Nick Wagoner. "As a player, you want to be somewhere you want to play the rest of your career. This is where I want to be, but that's why we have agents. My most important thing right now is continuing to work with my teammates and continue to be the best player and person I can be."

The Rams are banking on Foles' 2013 season being the best possible representation of who he'll be going forward. In his first year under Eagles coach Chip Kelly, Foles threw for 2,891 yards and 27 touchdowns against two interceptions, leading the NFL in quarterback rating en route to a Pro Bowl berth. 

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If the Foles of 2013—or, at the very least, a reasonable approximation—shows up going forward, the Rams will be giddy. If the Foles of 2012 or 2014 is a more accurate representation, however, the Rams may have paid a premium for a lemon.

Foles' two non-outlier seasons saw him throw for 19 touchdowns against 15 interceptions in what amounts to a full year's worth of work. The numbers from both campaigns look eerily similar, with a completion percentage hovering around 60 (the NFL Mendoza Line for passers) and league-average underlying numbers elsewhere. 

Football Outsiders' DVOA metric, which measures a player's effectiveness against a replacement-level starter, ranked Foles 20th among quarterbacks in 2014. Pro Football Focus' ratings system was much more unkind, placing him 34th among the 39 qualifying signal-callers that year. Foles showed marked drops in accuracy throwing deep and under pressure, also per PFF, which has to be a concern heading into 2015.

Still, there is a possibility the Rams are buying Foles at the lowest possible point. They better hope so.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.