After the ugly tie versus the Bengals, which included injuries to Avonte Maddox, DeSean Jackson, Jason Peters, Dallas Goedert, and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, it’s time to reevaluate Howie Roseman and his control over the roster.
It can be argued whether or not Roseman did enough to solidify the roster, but the team is sitting at 0-2-1 and has the same roster and injury concerns it did late in 2019.
I wrote back in August how the Eagles’ new emphasis on athleticism will help this team in the present and future, but we have yet to see that take place.
Jalen Reagor is out until November, Jalen Hurts has shown flashes of gadgetry, Davion Taylor hasn’t seen the field on defense, K’Von Wallace has seen very minimal work on defense and has largely played on special teams, Jack Driscoll shows promise, John Hightower as well, Shaun Bradley – see Wallace, Quez Watkins hasn’t played yet, same for Prince Tega Wanogho, and Casey Toohill has seen limited work on defense as well.
Should we even talk about the 2019 draft? Besides Miles Sanders, the draft picks have stunk. Andre Dillard out, JJAW is bad, Shareef Miller is gone, Clayton Thorson…
How many more years of mediocre drafts can the Eagles endure before Jeffery Lurie decides to make a change?
The Roseman Moves
Old people
Since 2010, the Eagles have made 90 selections in the draft. Of those 90, 25 are still on the team, including the 10 from 2020.
Looking around the league, it can be said that the number you just read is similar across the board. But what the Eagles have lacked is quality in the selection of those players.
Since 2010 (Howie Roseman first year as GM), the Eagles have had 21 different players named to the Pro Bowl. Pretty good, right? They have the 9th most since that year. The league average is 18.31.
However, if you look deeper than that, it becomes clear that Roseman has been:
a) Too reliant on older veterans to improve the team
and
b) Terrible at drafting top talent
Among those 21 players, only 7 were drafted in 2010 or after. Only the Bengals, Colts, Jets, Patriots, and Lions have less. Of those 7, 6 were drafted by the Eagles.
As you can see, the Eagles are among 13 other teams who are below the 8.5 average, but let’s get even deeper.
While having the ninth most Pro Bowlers since 2010, their 7 drafted since that year puts them at 33.3%, third-worst in the league. Only the Pats and Broncos are worse.
For the entire decade, the Eagles relied on productive, older players to help their team succeed. This worked well in 2017, but it hasn’t since. We were told prior to this season that there would be a focus on youth, but have we seen that since Howie Roseman took back control in 2016?
Young “talent”
Now let’s move on from 2010 and move to 2016. Since 2016, the Eagles have had 10 different players make it to the Pro Bowl. Among the 32 teams, they fall right above the average of 9.25:
You could argue that there are only three teams below the Eagles’ number that have had success despite not having younger elite talent: Pats, Packers, and 49ers. The 49ers success has come from the last two drafts, for the most part. You could also argue the Texans but then people will bring up Watson vs Wentz and that’s not the discussion here.
Of those 10 PB players, only one was drafted in 2016 or after: Carson Wentz. The league average for PB players drafted in 2016 or after is two, but most of those teams at that number or below share a common theme:
For the teams that are below the average, all but the Pats, Packers, Eagles, and Vikings have had high draft picks due to losing seasons. The four other teams mentioned have had the benefit of staying afloat due to those older players. But at what point does age catch up to the success of the team?
It was widely viewed that the Pats were going into a regression year due to the departure of Tom Brady, but Cam Newton seems to have destroyed that notion. Aaron Rodgers is a man on a mission in 2020. The Vikings are 0-3 and the Eagles are 0-2-1. Both teams seem to have little to no hope to turn things around in 2020.
Four of the five teams at the average are having great seasons so far, while only four teams above the average don’t have winning records: Cowboys, Saints, Falcons, Jaguars. However, it looks like the Cowboys will still win the division if the Eagles don’t turn things around.
Notable free agents brought in under Howie Roseman (age):
- Connor Barwin (27)
- Evan Mathis (29 when signed, turned 30 a few months later)
- Brandon Brooks (27)
- Nick Foles (28)
- Malcolm Jenkins (27)
- Chris Long (32)
- LeGarrette Blount (31)
- Nnamdi Asomugha (30)
While almost all of those players helped the Eagles be successful (lol Nnamdi), Howie Roseman failed to prepare the team for the eventual departure of the veterans as they got older (we’ll see how the Brooks injury pays out) with the exception of Carson Wentz. Most recently, the team is hoping Jalen Mills can replace Jenkins’ production and leadership, the defensive end rotation has lacked depth since Long left, and the running back rotation has lacked a legitimate complement like Blount since he left.
We have seen this team come back from the rubble to make the playoffs the last two seasons, but it seems as though Howie’s commitment to older players has finally run its course. It’s time to take away his personnel control and give it to someone who has a better track record.
Photo by John Jones/Icon Sportswire
