American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Am ...
. He played professionally in the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...
(NFL) with the
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The ...
from 1994 to 1998 and the
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...
in 1999 and in the
Arena Football League
The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...
with the
New Jersey Gladiators
The Cleveland Gladiators were an arena football team based in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The Gladiators played their home games at Quicken Loans Arena, which they shared with the Cleveland Cava ...
in 2002.
Early life
Foley played
high school football
High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, partl ...
at
Cherry Hill High School East
Cherry Hill High School East (also known as Cherry Hill East or CHE) is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades in Cherry Hill, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States, operating a ...
in his hometown of
Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Cherry Hill is a township within Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a population of 74,553, which reflected an increase of 3,508 (+4.94%) from the 71,045 counted in the 2010 census.< ...
.
Boston College
Foley attended
Boston College
Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classified ...
and played for the
Boston College Eagles football
The Boston College Eagles football team represents Boston College in the sport of American football. The Eagles compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member of ...
team. In 1993, he led the Eagles in a 41–39 upset over previously undefeated Notre Dame and a victory over Virginia Cavaliers in the 1994 Carquest Bowl. To finish the season, he received 180 votes for the
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and har ...
, finishing in fifth place.
*1990: 182/349 for 2,189 yards with 11 touchdowns and 21 interceptions
*1991: 153/298 for 2,222 yards with 21 touchdowns and 17 interceptions
*1992: 146/265 for 2,231 yards with 15 touchdowns and 12 interceptions
*1993: 222/363 for 3,397 yards with 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions
NFL career
Entering the
1994 NFL Draft
The 1994 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 24–25, 1994, at the Marriott Ma ...
Foley worked out for almost all the teams in the NFL at the February scouting combine in
Indianapolis
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
.
Before the draft, Foley was rated by ''
Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami. and by Charles Bricker of the ''
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as surrounding Br ...
'' as the draft’s third-best quarterback behind
Heath Shuler
Joseph Heath Shuler (born December 31, 1971) is an American businessman, former NFL quarterback, and former U.S. Representative for from 2007 to 2013. He is a member of the Democratic Party and was a member of the Blue Dog Coalition during ...
and Trent Dilfer. NFL analyst Mel Kiper also rated Foley as the third-best quarterback in the draft, whilst ''The Californian'' rated him fourth behind Shuler, Dilfer, and
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...
’s Doug Nussmeier. Jim Thomas of the '' St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', however, did not rate Foley among the five best quarterbacks available. Those who had played against Foley in college had doubts about his size, durability, and consistency as a short passer, and Bricker said that Foley would not be chosen before the fourth round.
Foley was ultimately selected in the seventh round of the draft and played sporadically for the Jets from 1994 to 1998. From 1996 to 1998 he threw for 2,013 yards with 10 touchdowns and 14 interceptions during that three-season span. Foley was the Jets' starting quarterback to open the 1998 season, but injuries resulted in
Vinny Testaverde
Vincent Frank Testaverde Sr. (; born November 13, 1963) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 21 seasons. He played college football at Miami, where he was an All-American and won the H ...
taking the starting job.
Foley was traded to the
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...
in 1999. He was released in a cost-cutting move during the Seahawks' final cuts before the 2000 season.
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
from August 2006 until March 2008 when WPEN joined
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN ...
Valley Forge Military Academy
Valley Forge Military Academy and College (VFMAC) is a private boarding school (grades 7–12) and military junior college in Wayne, Pennsylvania. It follows in the traditional military school format with army traditions. Though military in ...
in
Wayne, Pennsylvania
Wayne is an unincorporated community centered in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, on the Main Line, a series of highly affluent Philadelphia suburbs located along the railroad tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad and one of the wealthiest area ...
. In 2010, he served as the Academy's head football coach. In his only season as head coach he led the team to an 8–0 record. After leaving Valley Forge, Foley worked as an instructor for Football University.
Personal life
Foley's father, Ed Sr., was a quarterback for Boston College from 1963 to 1965. His brother, Ed Jr. is, as of 2021, the Assistant Special Teams Coach of the NFL's Carolina Panthers. In the past Ed has Coached at Baylor and Temple, acting as recruiting coordinator for the
Temple Owls
The Temple Owls are the athletic teams that represent Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The current athletic director is Arthur Johnson.
The owl has been the symbol and mascot for Temple University since its founding in the ...
and was the head coach of the
Fordham Rams
The Fordham Rams are the varsity sports teams for Fordham University. Their colors are maroon and white. The Fordham Rams are members of NCAA Division I and compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference for most sports. In football, the Rams play in t ...
from 2004 to 2005.
Foley, married to his wife Theresa, has four boys and a daughter. As of 2011, Foley lives in
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...