Tyrone Johnson: Howie Roseman has been Eagles biggest winner so far

BY TYRONE JOHNSON
PhillyVoice Contributor

COLLEEN CLAGGETT/PHILLYVOICE

Eagles GM Howie Roseman

Not that long ago, Howie Roseman was basically banished by Chip Kelly. Years later we saw him rise and win a Super Bowl, but in hindsight, that team never really had a chance to have the staying power we thought it could when Doug Pederson said, "this is the new normal.” 

The 2017 champs had too many older guys on short term deals, too many misses in the draft, and both Wentz and Foles couldn’t come close to replicating their production from that year. That led to Pederson being fired after the 2020 season. Wentz was traded to the Colts that same offseason and the Eagles took on the largest individual dead cap hit in NFL history. Things looked very bleak and many of the problems were caused by Roseman. 

I and many others were rightfully very critical of the predicament that he put the Eagles in. Many GMs would not have been able to navigate out of that without completely bottoming out. Instead, aided by a historically bad stretch of opposing QBs, the Eagles not only didn’t bottom out, but found a way to make the playoffs in 2021.
 
Fast forward to today and this Eagles team is off to a 4-0 start and looks like a complete team. They are a team that can beat teams in several ways and a roster that appears deep. They look like a complete team in a year where very few teams have looked good so far. While the games have been competitive around the NFL, the quality of play has not. 

In contrast, the Eagles have played very crisp, Jalen Hurts only has just one interception that was his fault, and the Eagles defensive is forcing turnovers. Quarterbacks look completely discombobulated. They have had the NFC defensive player of the week for three consecutive weeks. 

Just as importantly, it seems this team has the potential to be good for a much longer period than the Super Bowl year. Howie had a busy offseason, and so far, it looks incredible. AJ Brown is 25 years old, on a long-term deal and he is 4th in the NFL so far in receiving yards. Haasan Reddick just turned 28 and in addition to his 3.5 sacks, he leads the NFL in forced fumbles. James Bradberry has been an upgrade at CB over Steven Nelson. Kyzir White has been part of a much-improved linebacker core and the late trade for CJ Gardner-Johnson made the Eagles better while further weaking the Saints. (This is significant because the Eagles own the Saints 2023 first round pick.)

Howie deserved a lot of credit for what we are seeing.
 
White is on a one-year deal, but assuming he cashes elsewhere the Eagles have newly drafted Nakobe Dean and he should be able to fill that spot in 2023. Drafting outside corners has been a problem for Howie (remember Sidney Jones?), but with multiple first round picks in 2023 the Eagles are poised to replace Bradberry if he doesn’t sign and find a longer term player opposite Slay. Gardner-Johnson is on the last year of his deal, but the Eagles would likely not have given up assets for a rental.

I have barely mentioned the offense which is currently ranked No. 1 in the NFL or how Roseman drafted Hurts and then despite flirtations with Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson, wisely stuck with him. A good young quarterback on a rookie contract is gold, and Hurts is on a his second round contract for this year and next. 

The obsession with the offensive line brought to Philly by Andy Reid has been amplified and improved on since. Two young offensive linemen (one off waivers from the original cuts to 53 and one from the practice squad) have been signed to active rosters this year because it is assumed if the Eagles want them, they must be good. Jeff Stoutland deserves a lot of credit for this, but Howie is providing talented clay for Stoutland to mold. With two starting lineman leaving the game Sunday and Dillard still on the IR with a broken arm, the Eagles were able to go to Sua Opeta who they found as an undrafted free agent in 2019 and Jake Driscoll who they drafted in the 4th round in 2020. The Eagles settled in and mashed a good Jaguars defensive line. 

Miles Sanders had the best game of his career with two backups playing significant time. We see around the NFL just how many teams are struggling up front with just their first string. This is another example of why I don’t think it is too early to say the Eagles are Super Bowl contenders.
 
It is only Week 5 and nothing is in stone yet. The Eagles lost three starters plus their kicker left the game banged up last week. It is very hard to win in the NFL without great injury luck. 

At the same time the Eagles are the now the betting favorite to come out of the NFC and they have the third best odds in the NFL to win the Super Bowl. If the Eagles can pull it off, that would be a second Super Bowl on Roseman’s resume. 

I don’t like how the Eagles don’t communicate with the fans anymore and how basic unimportant injury details are treated like the nuclear codes under the Howie regime. At the same time, it is very hard to argue with the results. 

If the season continues on this path, we will no longer be saying that Howie Roseman is a good GM, we will be calling him elite and a Philly Legend instead.

https://www.phillyvoice.com/tyrone-johnson-howie-roseman-eagles-gm-offseason-moves-rumors-4-0-super-bowl-analysis-news/

Sure does look good.  Someone's gonna post something about kicking the can down the road, though...

 

 

10 minutes ago, EricAllenPick6 said:

Sure does look good.  Someone's gonna post something about kicking the can down the road, though...

 

 

I don’t really care if he kicks the can down the road. There’s no end to the road, so just keep kicking it and kicking it. 

Credit where credit is due Howie had a great offseason. Or so least right now that is how it looks. He added weapons on both sides of the ball and he's given the team a chance to be really good for a few years potentially. 

First, it’s JACK Driscoll (not Jake).

Second, not sure I completely agree with the notion that this team is built to be good for a longer period than 2017 … not because we have as many aging vets that team did but because of the large number of free agents on this year’s team … 9 of which are key starters (Bradberry, Kelce, Hargrave, White, Epps, CJGJ, Edwards, Sanders, Seumalo).  We are also (likely) going to have to give Hurts a market contract (assuming he continues playing at the level he is) … that obviously makes it much harder to fill holes on a roster with quality free agents, especially at positions where they’ve had a lot of trouble drafting (CB, WR … Smith being the exception, etc).  There are several key backups that are also headed for free agency at the end of this year:  Minshew, Graham, Opeta, Pascal, Scott.  No doubt Howie crushed this offseason - he added some key pieces in free agency that have worked out extremely well.  Unfortunately we aren’t going to be able to retain some/many of them because of how well they are playing and the pay they are sure to demand next league year because of that and also because of the Hurts mega-contract.  To me it seems more like Howie was going "all in” for 2022.  He is going to have his work cut out for him as we go from 2022 to 2023 for sure.  Navigate that mess and put us in the same position we are in now and then I’ll be extremely impressed.  

"I and many others" - what kind of a newspaper reporter writes like this?  The quality of journalism is in the toilet.

3 hours ago, Procus said:

"I and many others" - what kind of a newspaper reporter writes like this?  The quality of journalism is in the toilet.

He's a radio guy... TBH I didn't even know he wrote articles anywhere until I saw this post. 

6 hours ago, Procus said:

"I and many others" - what kind of a newspaper reporter writes like this?  The quality of journalism is in the toilet.

He was Mikey Missanelli's side kick on 97.5 The Fanatic until recently.  Tyrone now has a show in the same time spot with Ricky Bottalico.  

So to summarise 'This team has the opportunity to be good for the long term as long as they can draft good guys to replace these vets that will leave for top money at the end of the season'

I mean I'm just a fan and not a journalist the basic boiled down to brass tacks premise of this article is pretty much an illustration of Howie's failings, the very reason why a lot of fans aren't convinced that Howie is an elite GM, but rather a deals guy who is probably up there as a one great year roster builder, but is never going to build sustained dynastic success that the team can fit under the cap for more than a year at a time.

Technically, we don't have to sign Hurts to a long term deal until after next season.  That could buy us a year to handle the situation with all of our impending free agents. And if the Saints bottom out this year and we end up with a top 6/7 draft pick...or even top 10...we will have options of drafting a blue chip player or trading down and collecting several more draft picks.

All that said, if Hurts continues playing like this it would definitely be Howie's MO to sign him during this season in an effort to get a slight discount.  Either way, we are in decent shape long term.  

3 hours ago, EaglesAddict said:

All that said, if Hurts continues playing like this it would definitely be Howie's MO to sign him during this season in an effort to get a slight discount.  Either way, we are in decent shape long term.  

Carson was the worst case scenario for what happens with you ink a QB too early and that worked out just fine for us.  I don't love all of these QBs getting insane deals, liike $50m per season?  It's worth it if you end up with Mahomes, but it's gonna look terrible if you get a guy playing like Russ.

26 minutes ago, EricAllenPick6 said:

Carson was the worst case scenario for what happens with you ink a QB too early and that worked out just fine for us.  I don't love all of these QBs getting insane deals, liike $50m per season?  It's worth it if you end up with Mahomes, but it's gonna look terrible if you get a guy playing like Russ.

Will be interesting to see how much money Hurts gets.  I wouldn't be in a rush to sign him long term because I still want to see more before handing out silly money. At the same time, the more he keeps balling out the more expensive he will get.