HOWIE ROSEMAN’S OFFSEASON HAS BEEN NOTHING SHORT OF PERFECT

[time2rock]

HOWIE ROSEMAN’S OFFSEASON HAS BEEN NOTHING SHORT OF PERFECT

By Brian Cass

September 2, 2022

 

Has Howie Roseman made one bad move this offseason? Serious question.

The Eagles entered the 2022 offseason with question marks scattered across their roster and the GM has provided an answer for every single one of them.

Will the Eagles give Jalen Hurts a bonafide WR1? Insert AJ Brown.

Will Howie finally begin to move on from his failed draft picks? See ya later Jalen Reagor and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside.

Who’s going to play CB2 opposite of Darius Slay? Hello, James Bradberry.

What about linebacker? This team doesn’t value that position. Well, now Jonathan Gannon has Kyzir White and Nakobe Dean at his disposal.

The list goes on and on.

Just last year, both Jeffrey Lurie and Howie sat at the podium and told reporters that the team was about to embark on a re-tooling phase. Gone were the days of signing aging veterans to absurd contracts and relying on Carson Wentz to muster up any of his 2017 magic. This was going to be a new era of Eagles football; one that focused on the present as well as the future success of the franchise.

One year into this re-tool and the Eagles are on the precipice of being true Super Bowl contenders.

Not only are the Eagles set up for success right now with an assortment of talent on both sides of the ball, Howie has given his team flexibility moving forward. That’s no secret at this point; nearly every local and national pundit has pointed that out by now. Regardless of how many people are beginning to take notice, Howie’s genius will forever deserve our recognition.

Howie’s team building philosophy has taken a clear pivot towards acquiring young talent, as opposed to filling out the roster with a bevy of one-year deals to proven, yet aging players. With a clear focus on building through the draft, Howie has hit it out of the park over the past two years, securing a number of starters on both sides of the ball.

He’s also given his team ample draft capital in future years to ensure he can continue this new-found team building strategy.

A look at Howie’s draft picks over the next three years:

2023

Round	How pick was acquired
1	Eagles’ own selection
1	Via pre-draft trade with Saints
2	Eagles’ own selection
3	Eagles’ own selection
4	Eagles’ own selection
7	Eagles’ own selection
7	Via Jalen Reagor trade to Minnesota

2024

Round	How pick was acquired
1	Eagles’ own selection
2	Eagles’ own selection
2	Via pre-draft trade with Saints
3	Eagles’ own selection
4	Eagles’ own selection
5	Via Jalen Reagor trade to Minnesota (can become a 4th if conditions are met)
5	Eagles’ own selection
6	Eagles’ own selection

2025

Round	How pick was acquired
1	Eagles’ own selection
2	Eagles’ own selection
3	Eagles’ own selection
4	Eagles’ own selection
5	Eagles’ own selection
6	Eagles’ own selection
7	Eagles’ own selection
7	Via Chauncey Gardner-Johnson trade from Saints

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Whether Howie decides to use all of this draft capital to replenish his roster with young players or use them to acquire talent through trades is still up in the air. The key factor in all of this is the GM’s flexibility to do either.

NFL ideology shifts on a year-to-year basis. Even though it may be minute in certain instances, what’s valuable in 2022 may not be as valuable in 2023, and vice versa. With all this capital at Howie’s disposal, he’ll be able to change course with his team building philosophy at a moment’s notice. In turn, he’ll have a clear edge over his competition; or at least until the rest of the NFL catches up.

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The one question Howie has left unchecked (kind of)

We can knit pick areas here and there that are a bit uncertain heading into the 2022 season. But above all else, the success of this team will rest on the shoulders of QB Jalen Hurts. And if we’re all being honest with ourselves, none of us can say for certain that Hurts is franchise quarterback material.

What we can say for certain, however, is that Howie took full advantage of Hurts’ measly $1.6 million cap hit (via Spotrac) for this year. Having a capable quarterback playing on a rookie deal is a luxury every team strives for but only a handful achieve.

The question of ‘is Hurts capable enough to lead this team to the promised land’ is one we simply can’t answer yet. But there is no uncertainty about the weapons surrounding Hurts and the offensive line he’ll have blocking for him.

By season’s end, we’ll have our answer to the Hurts question.

Somehow, someway, Howie managed to pull off the perfect offseason. Just two years removed from an abysmal 4-11-1 2020 campaign, the Eagles have placed themselves right back in the Super Bowl discussion for 2022 and beyond.

All hail King Howie.

https://thelibertyline.com/2022/09/02/howie-offseason-has-been-perfect/

[Rob331]

Nice article, but I would have liked to see more about the Riddick acquisition, the draft class, undrafted free agents, and even the Sermon pick-up. 

[HowiesBroman]

Dude still drafted Reagor over Justin freaking Jefferson who anyone with any iota of a brain knew was at bare minimum a stud slot receiver... JR had soooo many red flags 

But I am his Bro and he is for sure a cap whiz

[UK_EaglesFan89]

Too early to say whether he's made a bad move. On paper he's had a great off season but until we see the product throughout the season we can't make that call. 

[Rob331]

Not quite perfect. Remember (or not) Jaquisti Tartt. But, Howie made up for that swing and a miss with CGJ.

I think the biggest success of all was picking up 3 undrafted free agent who could make the roster and 4 more of our own UDFA's on the practice squad. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

On 9/4/2022 at 4:44 PM, Rob331 said:

Not quite perfect. Remember (or not) Jaquisti Tartt. But, Howie made up for that swing and a miss with CGJ.

Not much of a swing was it? They didn't trade for him did they? I think they just brought him in as a FA.

[PoconoDon]

So far, so good. Howie is definitely putting in the work at every turn. We have to wait for the results, but his effort to improve the roster has been terrific.

[Crazy Legs]

11 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Not much of a swing was it? They didn't trade for him did they? I think they just brought him in as a FA.

Just a $500K signing bonus to ass to nearly $60M of dead money this season.

BTW: Not that I'm as fiscally conservative as I once was, but still, I'd like to see more restraint with all the "creative" use of restructured voided contracts leading to all this dead money.