Howie Roseman: We mistakenly focused on fit when selecting Reagor over Jefferson

[time2rock]

Howie Roseman: We mistakenly focused on fit when selecting Reagor over Jefferson

Howie Roseman and the Philadelphia Eagles selected wide receiver Jalen Reagor with the 20th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, one pick ahead of Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson.

The Eagles' GM talked about that mistake on Tuesday's 94WIP Morning Show.

"I think one of my many weaknesses, is that I spend more time thinking about my mistakes than I do any of the successes we may have had," Roseman told Angelo Cataldi. "I think it continuously motivates me to get better. Whenever we do something like that, I go back and I look at the process and how we came to that decision. It's obvious, I'm not going to sit here and lie, we'd love to have that moment back. I believe that all of these moments, they lead to where you're getting. Like I feel like when we won a World Championship there were some mistakes made in that process, but they lead us to get to where we want to be. I can't go back in time and change it, all I can do is to try and learn from it and get better.

Reagor, after two underwhelming seasons in Philadelphia, has now been traded to the Vikings and will hope to find success playing alongside Jefferson, who is regarded by many as the NFL's best receiver after last season where he caught 108 balls for 1,616 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Roseman admits the Eagles were focused on fit with Reagor over just selecting the better all-around player.

"I think a lot of the message there is, we just have to take the best players at all times," he said. "We don't have to worry so much about fit or what we have on the team. You go back to that moment, we had two tight ends who were really good in the middle of the field, Greg Ward was coming off of a really good year in the slot. Were looking for a specific role as opposed to just grading the players. That's on me, one hundred percent. At the end of the day, I'm responsible for all of that. But I also promise you one thing , if I make a mistake I'm going to do everything in my power to make it up."

Over the last few seasons, the Eagles have began to select a lot more players from top SEC colleges, specifically Alabama and Georgia. Roseman admits that seems to be an intentional trend.

"I think what you really see from those guys is the football character," Roseman said. "How much passion they have for the game, how much they work to get better. When you see where those guys come from and the football stories behind them...You look at those guys and you see their passion. And those programs, they're hard to get to. There's immense competition to play at those schools because they have huge recruit and then they play tough schedules. I do think there's been a little bit of a change there...I think you see it in kind of what we've been doing in the last few years, and that doesn't mean we weren't doing the right things before that all of the time, but certainly it gives us some comfort."

The 2022 Philadelphia Eagles Radiothon is underway. Go to Eaglesradiothon.com to check out the items and bid, including lunch with Howie Roseman and a tour of the NovaCare Complex.

https://www.audacy.com/94wip/sports/eagles/howie-roseman-eagles-mistake-reagor-jefferson-draft-vikings

[time2rock]

Honestly, selecting the best players from the best teams that have a proven track record of productivity against the highest level of competition shouldn't be some earth shattering revelation that you are only coming to realize in year 12 of being a GM.  But glad to see what appears to be better drafting in the past couple of years (hard to say with 100% certainty yet ... need to see more to get a full evaluation of those classes).  I'll buy in more fully that Howie has learned those lessons if he avoids any egregious mistakes over the next couple of drafts and the recent trend continues.

[jsdarkstar]

Yea, fit to Howie was Reagor was more like DJ, than Jefferson. 

[NCTANK]

i call BS

[eggs]

4 hours ago, time2rock said:

Honestly, selecting the best players from the best teams with a proven track record of productivity against the best competition shouldn't be some earth shattering revelation that you are only coming to realize in year 12 of being a GM.  But glad to see what appears to be better drafting in the past couple of years (hard to say with 100% certainty yet ... need to see more to get a full evaluation of those classes).  I'll buy in more fully that Howie has learned those lessons if he avoids any egregious mistakes over the next couple of drafts and the recent trend continues.

Yeah, I’m not a Howie lover, but at the time we were all looking for speed and Jefferson was billed as a slot guy and Reagor more of a speed guy. 

[brkmsn]

I really believe the Eagles were trying to find the next Tyreek Hill. Unfortunately, they didn't and maybe they passed on the next Jerry Rice.

[PoconoDon]

It was a huge mistake that he will hear about for years to come. As long a she actually learned from it and doesn't make that one again, it's all good.

[Portyansky]

Imagine. DK, JJ, Smith on the same team. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

I guess the encouraging thing is Howie is looking at his mistakes and trying to correct them in the future. He's looking at the process and figuring out what works and what doesn't. But I agree with @time2rock this shouldn't be something earth shattering in year 12 of being a GM. It's pretty obvious to take the best players from the best colleges for the most part. 

[nipples]

22 hours ago, NCTANK said:

i call BS

BS on what exactly? It was very clear that Reagor was taken because they thought he fit what they wanted (speed) more than Jefferson. It’s also apparent that since then they’ve been taking the best player available, as evidence by all the SEC guys they’ve drafted the last couple years. 
 

So I’m not sure what you could say is BS in anything Howie said here. 

[time2rock]

15 minutes ago, nipples said:

BS on what exactly? It was very clear that Reagor was taken because they thought he fit what they wanted (speed) more than Jefferson. It’s also apparent that since then they’ve been taking the best player available, as evidence by all the SEC guys they’ve drafted the last couple years. 
 

So I’m not sure what you could say is BS in anything Howie said here. 

Just a guess but perhaps calling BS on Howie claiming to have learned from this mistake?  

[nipples]

39 minutes ago, time2rock said:

Just a guess but perhaps calling BS on Howie claiming to have learned from this mistake?  

I dunno. So far I have no reason to think it’s BS. He’s definitely taking BPA almost exclusively in the last couple of drafts and focusing on SEC players. 
 

I get wanting to see it for a couple more years before completely believing but so far he’s proven exactly what he’s saying since the Reagor draft. 
 

Of course, there will be picks he makes that won’t pan out even if they are the obvious pick. So I’m sure as soon as he has a miss, even if it’s a highly touted ‘Bama player, he’ll be getting roasted for it. 

[EaglesAddict]

I recall reading that Reagor was the coaching staff's preference due to the perceived fit.  Of course, that still falls on Howie's shoulders, but the way that they do things can sometimes lead to these types of issues.  If the scouts are saying one thing and the coaches another thing...then if Lurie has something to say, etc...Howie weighs all that and makes the call.