Philadelphia Eagles' Doug Pederson confirms Nick Foles will start at quarterback

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson confirmed on Monday that Nick Foles will be his starting quarterback for Thursday night's season-opening game against the Atlanta Falcons.

It was assumed Foles would be the starter after Pederson said over the weekend that Carson Wentz had not yet been cleared for contact.

Starting Foles, who was the Super Bowl LII Most Valuable Player, is in the team's best interests, Pederson said. The coach had said earlier he is more interested in the next 10 years of Wentz's career than in the first several games of this season. Wentz is recovering from a torn ACL and LCL in his left knee suffered last season. Foles replaced Wentz for the rest of the season.

While starting the first 13 games last season, Wentz completed 60.2 percent of his passes for 3,296 yards, 33 touchdowns and seven interceptions. The Eagles were 11-2 in the games Wentz started.

Foles started the three remaining regular-season games and all three postseason games. In the playoffs, Foles completed 72.6 percent of his passes with six touchdown passes and one interception.

After playing the Falcons, the Eagles will have 10 days off before their second game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It remains unclear who would start that game.