It was announced today that the Eagles have signed GM Howie Roseman to a three-year contract extension. Naturally, this has been bet with both overwhelmingly positive and negative reactions. Roseman has become one of the most polarizing figures in the world of Philadelphia sports, but the Eagles need to keep him around.
Howie Roseman: Hero or villain?
It’s easy to be bearish when it comes to Roseman. The Eagles have only won just over 50% of their games during his tenure as GM and outside of the miraculous Super Bowl run, the team has struggled to do much of anything in the playoffs. His drafting has been beyond worrying at times, with several huge misses being associated with his name, and there have been three head coaching cycles that have ended in utter turmoil.
But then there’s the positive side of things. Howie Roseman has grown a fierce reputation in NFL circles as a shrewd negotiator and it’s rare to see him lose a trade. Something of a cap wizard, Roseman has been able to dig himself and the team out of some pretty deep holes that would’ve ruined other franchises.
Somewhere in the middle is a GM who can make the most of his NFL Draft Capital and build a competent roster. That’s really what the Eagles are banking on here.
Or is it?
There are bigger holes to fill
Something that flies massively under the radar when it comes to Roseman is his ability to develop a strong front office. Every year, the Eagles seem to be ripe for the picking when it comes to their execs and they’re constantly having to replenish a depleting pool of young talent. This year was no exception.
Brandon Brown and Ian Cunningham were very much a dynamic duo in Philadelphia, serving as director and co-director of player personnel beneath Andy Weidl, who as we know, took over from Joe Douglas after he left for his first GM role.
Catherine Raiche continues to draw the attention of numerous NFL teams, with the Minnesota Vikings recently sniffing around.
We can go back even further, too. Joe Douglas obviously left for a GM role with the Jets and clinging onto Andrew Berry proved to be an impossible task.
Howie Roseman glues the front office together
As of right now, Philadelphia’s staff is old and a little barren thanks to the endless sniping sprees of teams poaching execs for senior roles. Former Jags GM Dave Caldwell headlines a veteran team. Tom Donahoe has been around for years (and is now famous for his draft day antics) and player personnel executive, T.J. McCreight, has been around NFL circles since 1997. The experience up-top is what allows the Eagles to develop the younger, more inexperienced minds who bring so many more ways of thinking to the table.
With that said, the glue holding the team together is Roseman. The same GM who rubbed Donahoe the wrong way when he drafted Milton Williams last year, deviating from the big board to land his man and pushing Donahoe to a fiery response. The same GM who was able to unload Carson Wentz last year, re-couping a first-round pick in the process. The same GM who has given his team a trio of first-round picks to build with and usher in a new, athletic era of Eagles football.
Howie Roseman isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but he doesn’t have to be. He’s not perfect, he’s made plenty of mistakes and left Eagles fans clenching their fists during even the happiest of times. But at the end of the day, there’s a reason the Eagles have been able to evade a total rebuild on three different occasions under his guidance, and there’s a reason why Philadelphia has become a hot spot for future NFL execs. Like it or not, he gets his job done. What happens on the field may be out of his control, but he’ll always make sure his team has a fighting chance.
Photo by John Jones/Icon Sportswire
