It was a common statement that the St. Louis Rams were a quarterback away from being contenders last season.

Former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles has an opportunity to prove he’s the guy who can get the Rams over the hump. It’s illogical to think Foles will ever throw 27 touchdowns with just two interceptions ever again, but with the talent the Rams have been stacking the last few years, he doesn’t need to.

In the NFL, teams either have a star at quarterback, or they’re looking for a star at quarterback. While Foles may never be a star, he may have just landed in the perfect spot for a good quarterback. The Baltimore Ravens and Tampa Bay Buccaneers proved years ago that you can win it all with solid quarterback play if you have a great defense, and the Rams appear to be building just that.

We’ve seen quarterbacks of Foles’ ilk get traded to a bad team before, and the results usually aren’t pretty. Very few quarterbacks can lift up a bad team, and most average to good quarterbacks who try often flame out, and they’re often out of the league in a short time. We’ve also seen these guys get traded or sign with a team to hold the clipboard, and the results aren’t much better. Some of these guys end up out of the league, and others set up an illustrious career of holding the clip board for years, but rarely do these guys get the opportunity to be “the guy,” again.

Instead of suffering those less than ideal outcomes, Foles has an opportunity to stay in St. Louis for years to come (assuming the football team does) as the starting quarterback for a very good football team. If Foles can just be a game manager and lead the Rams offense to a place of respectability, he has the weapons on offense, and a very good defense that could make the Rams legitimate Super Bowl contenders.

It would be a shock for Foles to ever get to a place where we’re talking about him as a potential Hall of Famer, but he’d probably settle for the title of winner, a title he has the opportunity to earn because he’s now a Ram. The opportunity isn’t lost on Foles, who knows what the Rams have to offer.

“It’s a great opportunity to be with a great team,” Foles said at his introductory press conference.  “I’m excited to just get to know my teammates and just get to know the locker room, because that’s what it’s all about. It’s about that culture. It’s about knowing your guys and developing that relationship because that’s what wins games. We’re all going to be in it together. We’re going to run plays and everything, but sticking together, like I said, which I admired of the Rams last season, that’s what I love about it and I just want to add to it.”

While some aren’t sure if Foles is NFL starting quarterback material, Rams head coach Jeff Fisher clearly isn’t among the group.

“It’s what he did in college,” Fisher said during the introductory press conference. “What he was able to accomplish there, the system he was in. Then of course, we went back to his rookie year with Andy and watched him finished up the year. Then ’13 was so impressive, what he was able to do, all the throws. We really felt like he fits into our style of offense. The mobility, the athleticism. He loves to put it down the field. He’d be the first to tell you he likes to put it down the field and we’ve got guys that can do that.”

While some consider it a shock that the Rams traded the quarterback they once drafted first overall for a guy who was drafted in the third round, (and draft picks) there’s as big of a question mark around Sam Bradford’s health as there is around Foles’ play. St. Louis shouldn’t expect Foles to be Aaron Rodgers or to duplicate his amazing 2013 season, but at this point the Rams would be happy to have a starting quarterback who can stay on the field.

While the Rams roster isn’t perfect and could use some help on the offensive line and in the defensive backfield, this is a team that’s ready to win now if they can get consistent quarterback play. Defensively, we know they’re stacked. Along with Foles, the Rams introduced another Nick, as they pranked the St. Louis media by bringing Nick Fairley into the press conference when everyone was expecting Foles. Opposing offensive lines might feel like they’re being pranked next season when they have to try to block Fairley and his teammates who already comprised the best defensive line in football before he got there.

The Rams defense will keep them in football games if their offense can score some points, and if Foles is a fit, they will score points. With Tavon Austin, Kenny Britt, Jared Cook, Tre Mason and Zac Stacy, Foles has plenty of weapons if the offensive line can keep him clean, and if he can be somewhere between the quarterback he was in 2013 and 2014, the Rams will be very good.

Nick Foles is anything but a sure thing, but for a quarterback who’s still trying to prove he deserves one of the 32 starting gigs in the league, he probably couldn’t have landed in a better situation. When it became clear he wouldn’t be Chip Kelly’s guy in Philadelphia, Foles probably hoped just to have an opportunity somewhere this season. As it turns out, Foles may have been given the perfect opportunity.