3 thoughts as Howie Roseman’s deal with the Eagles nears its end

[time2rock]

3 thoughts as Howie Roseman’s deal with the Eagles nears its end

Who would have thunk? Howie Roseman is, again, on the minds of Eagles fans.

We haven’t even reached the start of the new League Year, which is set for March 16th, and if we didn’t know any better, we could probably make the argument that it’s started already. After all, there aren’t any days off for the NFL, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the other 31 franchises, right?

Before we even reached kickoff in the most recent Super Bowl, everyone who was a fan of one of the 30 teams who weren’t playing had their mind was on mock drafts, the next class of NFL rookies, free agency, and the coming draft. It seems like we say this every offseason, but the next few months will be huge for this Eagles team.

We’ve been so busy discussing the contracts of Eagles players that we forgot about Howie Roseman‘s deal. You know, the one that expires in 2022. Jeffrey Lurie has a decision to make after the NFL’s 2022-2023 season concludes as his vice president/general manager, a man who’s been with the Eagles organization in some capacity or another since 2000, is nearing the end of a shiny new deal he signed back in 2018.

Are you interested? We figured you would be. Buckle up. There’s much to discuss.

There are three things to consider concerning Howie Roseman and the Eagles.

Remember how good things were in August of 2018? The Eagles were coming off of a Super Bowl. Howie Roseman had just won the Pro Football Writers Association Executive of the Year Award, and everyone was buzzing about a ‘new norm’ that Doug Pederson was talking about. It seemed Doug and Howie would be a part of the organization for years to come.

Hold up! Wait a minute! Y’all thought we were finished (in our Meek Mill voices)… Fast forward back to the present, and things have changed. Doug is the coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars now. Half of the Eagles’ fan base can’t stand the sight of Howie Roseman.

Here are three things to think about now as Howie enters the biggest season of his career.

1. Dare we say Jalen Hurts might save Howie’s job?

While it’s easy to bring up bad contract extensions that look even worse years later (Alshon Jeffery’s for instance), it has to be stated that, even though it’s easy to forget that Howie’s job description encompasses more than managing the salary cap and gearing up for the draft, if we’re being fair, once you get over the way he’s butchered the wide receiver position, Roseman’s drafts aren’t terrible.

They aren’t great either, but they aren’t atrocious.

Every NFL team misses on draft picks, but take the Jalen Hurts selection in 2020 for example. Viewed as a horrible decision at the time, that one seems to have worked out in Howie’s favor. Jalen has a long way to go, but after Carson Wentz’s sudden and rapid regression, it was nice to have that card to play.

We’ll see how things go in year three. Jalen, if he’s able to take the next step, could help Howie earn a new deal at the end of the 2022-2023 NFL season. Unless of course…

You know what? It’s probably time that we move on to the next theory.

Expect some huge roster moves by this Eagles team in 2022.

Nothing says ‘win now’ like a contract reaching its end. Many of the fans have called for Howie’s dismissal, but we’ve never heard anything that demonstrates Eagles Chairman/CEO Jeffrey Lurie was ready to move on. There might be a reason for that.

2. Jeffrey Lurie is fiercely loyal to Howie Roseman.

Forget football, here’s something that will always be true in any business. No one hangs around an organization for two decades if the owner doesn’t like them or trust them. Howie Roseman has worked his way up through this Eagles’ organization after starting as a member of the salary cap staff counsel (2000-2002) to now being the executive vice president/general manager.

He’s seen four head coaches (Andy Reid, Chip Kelly, Doug Pederson, Nick Sirianni), and while some agonize over whether Howie should be given the pink slip, we’ve seen huge demonstrations of Lurie’s loyalty to Howie before.

When it came down to deciding between Doug Pederson and Howie, Jeffrey chose Howie. Many moons before that, former Eagles president Joe Banner, who was also a childhood friend of Jeffrey Lurie’s, got into a power struggle with Roseman. Roseman stayed. Banner didn’t.

Sure, we can go back and forth about what we think, but when you weigh the evidence, things seem to be pretty clear. Howie’s job is a lot safer than you might think.

As it always is, the next Eagles season will be intriguing for more reasons than one.

Philadelphia enters the 2022 offseason with draft capital and money to spend. Howie Roseman will get another shot to build what everyone hopes is a winning roster. Don’t look now, but whether you’re a fan of his or not, there’s some potential with an Eagles team that just made the postseason to conclude the 2021-2022 NFL season.

That’s good for the general manager. There is one more thing you need to consider, however.

3. Don’t be shocked if those QB rumors pick up steam again.

As stated earlier, nothing says ‘win now’ more than the end of a contract extension. The Eagles have proven that they can win with Jalen Hurts. They just haven’t proven that they can beat elite quarterbacks, and here’s something else that you can bet bottom dollar on. The Eagles want one of those elite quarterbacks on their team.

Jalen Hurts can grow into one. The question is this. How patient are the Birds going to be?

Sure, we were told that Jalen’s job is safe, but Howie’s under a microscope. No one plays the ‘it’s him or me’ game better than you know who. If you believe the Eagles won’t pull the plug on the current QB1 if they have a shot at acquiring an elite quarterback or if Jalen struggles quickly, you haven’t been paying attention.

Nine wins and barely speaking into the playoffs may not cut it. Dare we say Howie Roseman is on a much warmer seat? Who’s ready for some football? We most certainly are! Time is flying. You won’t have to wait much longer.

https://insidetheiggles.com/2022/02/20/eagles-news-howie-roseman-deal/

[time2rock]

Eagles fans licking their chops with hopes his contract is allowed to expire but are going to be extremely disappointed when it is announced he has been extended, likely some time in the next several weeks.  

[birdman#12]

Lurie can remain faithful to Roseman until kingdom come, but that doesn't mean Roseman needs to be making the personnel decisions.  There are plenty of executive positions within the organization that Roseman can be bumped up to.....

And Roseman's draft picks were not terrible, but his first round picks, up until Davonte Smith, have been unproductive.  I've made the argument that Pedersen's coaching staff did a poor job with developing players.

As we get further away from the super bow win, it seems that the eagles win was just a rare fluke, where all the FA signings and the veterans had solid years and the backups played great.  But that's not a repeatable process to compete for a deep playoff run each year.   Draft picks, especially high draft picks, are constantly needed to restock and possibly avoid the need to give out some of those fat contracts because there were limited options for replacement.

It also concerns me that Roseman gave out some of those contracts out of emotion.....to guys that were instrumental in the super bowl run, but were on the downside of their production. And for the majority of the time, that is a bad thing to do.......fans can be emotional, NFL GMs simply can't afford to be.

[Rob331]

The Eagles have been a consistent playoff team with very few down years during Howie's tenure. Sure there have been draft busts but show me a team that hasn't had draft busts. 

This draft is a key, but my preference is to keep Howie.