Philadelphia traded defensive backs Evan Cooper and Elbert…
Philadelphia traded defensive backs Evan Cooper and Elbert Foules to the Houston Oilers on July 23, 1988 in two related deals, receiving one undisclosed conditional 1989 draft choice for each player. Neither Cooper nor Foules appeared in a regular-season game for Houston after the trade, while Philadelphia retained two pieces of conditional draft consideration. The exact selections have not been identified, but the traceable outcome favors the Eagles.
Philadelphia Eagles Received
- pick 1989 conditional draft pick tied to Evan Cooper (round/selection not identified)
- pick 1989 conditional draft pick tied to Elbert Foules (round/selection not identified)
Tennessee Titans Received
- player Evan Cooper
- player Elbert Foules
Trade Analysis
Contemporary reporting establishes that this was effectively a paired transaction rather than one player package for a single pick. An Associated Press report published on July 24, 1988 says Philadelphia sent backup defensive backs Elbert Foules and Evan Cooper to Houston in separate deals and that the Oilers gave one undisclosed conditional 1989 draft choice for each player. Pro Sports Transactions independently records the July 23 exchange the same way, showing two conditional 1989 choices going to the Eagles and both defensive backs going to Houston. That corrects the older corpus entry, which listed only one conditional pick. The Oilers did not turn either acquisition into regular-season production. Pro Football Archives records Cooper as traded to Houston on July 23 and released on August 24, before the season opened. He later signed with Atlanta in October. Philadelphia's own retrospective on Foules recalls that he reported to Houston after the trade but says his career ended there, and Pro Football Reference lists no 1988 Houston regular-season appearance for him. Foules had been a useful Eagle, starting eight games in 1987 and collecting 10 interceptions across five Philadelphia seasons, but that prior production is not value Houston realized after the trade. Philadelphia's return is less precise because the rounds, conditions, and downstream selections attached to the two 1989 choices remain unidentified in the available sources. The record should therefore avoid assigning specific drafted players or invented pick numbers to the Eagles. Even with that limitation, the realized balance still favors Philadelphia: Houston spent two conditional draft assets on players who produced no regular-season games for the club, while the Eagles moved two defensive backs who were no longer central to their 1988 roster and received future consideration for each. A modest Eagles win is supported, but the uncertainty surrounding the exact pick conversions keeps Philadelphia's grade from rising beyond C+.