Former Michigan State football QB retires from the NFL

Michigan State football has a long history of successful players in the NFL. That is especially true at the quarterback position, which is currently being led by Kirk Cousins.

But there is another former Michigan State QB in the NFL who has just to decided to hang up his cleates and retire from football.

Nick Foles.

Foles may not be the first quarterback you think of when you think of Michigan State quarterbacks in the NFL, but he did in fact spend a season in East Lansing. Foles came to Michigan State out of high school and spent one season on the team in 2007. During this season he appeared in one game and completed 5-of-8 passes for 57 yards.

Now is also a good time to point out how wild the Michigan State quarterback room was in 2007. Brian Hoyer and Kirk Cousins were also on this team along with Foles. That means three very successful NFL quarterbacks were all in East Lansing at the same time, which will probably be the only time that ever happens again.

After the 2007 season, Foles transferred to Arizona where he found a lot of success. He was then drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2012.

Foles didn't have the most illustrious NFL career, spending most of his time as a backup, but I think all football fans remember his iconic run in the 2017 playoffs. After franchise quarterback Carson Wentz suffered a season ending injury, Foles took control of the offense near the end of the season.

Philadelphia was one of the top teams in the NFL at the time, but question marks were in abundance after Wentz was injured. But Foles responded in a big way and proved all the doubters wrong by leading the Eagles throughout the Playoffs and winning the Super Bowl. He was also named Super Bowl MVP after the franchise's first Super Bowl win.

So even though he wasn't a Spartan for long, I still always considered Foles a Michigan State guy. I enjoyed watching him during his 11-year NFL career when he earned his chances, and he ended his career as a name nobody will ever forget because of that wild playoff run with the Eagles.