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The great Nick Foles panic of 2016 is over, back to Super Bowl

Eagles fans, already burdened by the knowledge their team didn't get anywhere near Sunday evening's Super Bowl 50, awoke Sunday to news that had them flinging their pregame snack spread at the walls in frustration, even before the festivities got cranked up.

ESPN's Adam Schefter, a power broker who trades secrets wth teams and agents, reported that the Eagles are unlikely to place the franchise tag on quarterback Sam Bradford -- though he said they remain interested in signing Bradford. This was bracing news, but opinion is divided on whether Bradford is worth the $20 million or so straight off the cap it would take to franchise him, so it didn't produce a major shock wave. But then Schefter said that the Eagles and coach Doug Pederson were interested in reacquiring quarterback Nick Foles, who was "drafted by Pederson."

At this point, the salsa and guacamole began to fly.

But fret not, long-suffering Birds followers: A league source, very close to the situation, told the Daily News that no decision has been made on Bradford, who can't possibly be tagged before Feb. 16. And more crucially, the source said there is no chance the team will reacquire Foles, though the source acknowledged that Pederson -- the Eagles' quarterbacks coach in 2012 when Foles was drafted in the third round, though Pederson was hardly in charge of picking players -- likes Nick, who made the Pro Bowl in 2013, the first year of the Chip Kelly offense.

As is the case with Kelly, Foles has experienced a bit of career turbulence since 2013. In 2014 he had an 81.4 passer rating, 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions when he went down for the season with a broken collarbone in the eighth game. He was traded last March, along with this year's second-round pick, for Bradford. Foles got a new contract in St. Louis, but was benched in favor of Case Keenum, Foles finishing 2015 with a 69 passer rating, seven touchdowns and 10 picks.

In 2014, a lot of us felt we didn't see quite enough of Foles to be sure he wasn't the 27-touchdown, two-interception Pro Bowl guy from the year before. Then 2015 happened, We're sure.

Any team trading for Foles would have to deal with a $7.75 million guarantee this year, for a QB who has shown no recent signs of  being a quality starter.

Bradford, meanwhile, started off really slowly, in a new offense, having not played since the middle of the 2013 season because of back-to-back ACL tears. At midseason the idea of franchising him would have been laughable.

But in Bradford's last seven starts, he completed 67.9 percent of his passes, with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions, for a 96.7 passer rating. Many fans were left wondering, as they'd once done with Foles, whether he could produce a full season of such numbers, and the franchise tag might be a decent way of finding out, without commiting huge long-term dollars.

The Eagles draft 13th overall, a spot where they are hardly assured of getting a quarterback, in a year when the draft might not produce a franchise QB.

But we have plenty of time to debate all that after Cam and Peyton get done. Back to the Super Bowl.