After shocking the NFL with the franchise-altering moves made last season, Howie Roseman rebounded in a way that no one expected him to. The Eagles started by hiring the right staff for this roster, despite plenty of criticism at the time. They then went on to have one of the better draft classes that they’ve had in recent years which led to a winning season and a playoff berth in Nick Sirianni’s debut season leading the team.
Eagles building in the right way
They now step into the second year of a transition period and seem to be ahead of the curve thanks to the “chemistry” between the front office and the coaching staff. Not only that, but Roseman found a way to build on their resources. The Eagles currently have the 4th most draft capital in the NFL according to overthecap.com which was brought to light by Dave Spadaro in his recent interview with Howie Roseman.
Howie seems to be in a completely different headspace than he’s been in recent years. Howie explained how the draft picks have to make sense for the player and the coaches’ system.
“We have a responsibility to try to do the right thing for everyone here, to try to put the best possible team that we can on the field,” Roseman stated. “So what does that mean? That means getting as much information as possible so we can make good decisions. Trying to fit the pieces that also fit our scheme and our system. So there may be a really good player but if he doesn’t fit what the coaches want to do, he’s not going to look good here.”
The realization that Howie Roseman has had a moment of clarity from his past mistakes is very telling. Roseman has been heavily criticized for his past usage of the Eagles’ picks. Howie passionately explained:
“If it’s not there then we’ve got to let it go. You can only rebound from the decisions you don’t make, if you make a decision or you pay somebody that you’re forcing, you can’t rebound from that, that’s gone. If you pick somebody really high even though it’s kind of a force and you don’t feel good about it, you can’t rebound from that.” It feels as if players like JJ Arcega-Whiteside and Jalen Reagor fall into the pool of regret for Howie Roseman. As neither player has panned out for the team thus far.
His self-awareness and the first big step forward came right before the 2021 NFL Draft. He made the bold move of jumping the Giants to select DeVonta Smith 10th overall. He then followed suit by drafting another Alabama player in Landon Dickerson. The Eagles had one of the more productive draft classes this season but the one win isn’t enough to be satisfied with it just yet and Howie knows it.
Howie Roseman keeps learning
Howie seems to be in a place where he wants to have real pride in the roster he’s building. While no roster is a final product, Howie Roseman mentioned that he wants to get to a point where there are “53 starters” on this team. His focus seems to be gearing towards attacking the weakened of this roster.
“And we have some areas that we need to improve here and let’s make sure we keep our strengths a strength and we don’t have too big of a weakness anywhere,” Roseman stated.
Dave Spadaro went on to ask Roseman if he felt good about the young talent on the roster. Roseman went on to say,
“Uh yeah I do, I feel like have some good young players but again, I don’t want you to feel like we’re satisfied with what we have.” Roseman emphasized that the mindset of the front office is to never be satisfied. The team will continue to look for ways to add more strength to the roster as long as it doesn’t create a weakness.
With the offseason frenzy close to beginning, Roseman chose to break down what makes a team a world champion.
“It’s hard, it’s hard to be that last team standing you need so many things to go right. So if you just do things that are down the middle, the way the league kind of sets this up, yeah you may win 10 games, you may make the playoffs but it’s hard to be world champions.” He said but then he continued by stating, “You have to be willing to at least be out of the box, put yourself out there, and if you do that, yeah there’s some risk involved in that, but there’s also tremendous upside.”
It is evident that Howie Roseman is paying clear attention to what’s going on in the league and the team could be looking for significant upgrades in several positions. He explained about the flexibility of their cap space and how if they make a move then it has to be the right move. It seems as if the Eagles front office is in a win-now mode mentally. While many will attest to the lack of talent on both sides of the ball, you can’t count out Howie Roseman’s ability to get the right players to plug in and play. Whether it’s the QB position or even any position on defense, the Eagles’ GM looks like he’s in the right headspace to help navigate this team towards another Super Bowl run.
