Former NFL exec explains how Howie Roseman gives the Eagles a 'competitive advantage'

Glenn Erby 

 

April 18, 2023 11:24 am ET

Howie Roseman is the perfect example of using disappointment to fuel your future success. Eight years after losing a power struggle to Chip Kelly, the Eagles GM is the best at his profession.

Roseman traded Carson Wentz, retooled the Eagles’ roster, and led the organization to another Super Bowl appearance in 2023.

Now hours after agreeing to a five-year, $255 million contract extension with quarterback Jalen Hurts, the once-banished GM appears to be running circles around his competition.

Longtime NFL agent and former Green Bay Packers vice president (1998-2008) Gil Brandt is friends with Philadelphia’s GM and hopped on 94WIP to assess the moves Roseman has been making over the past few years.

"He brings a competitive advantage…We’re not living in the 1990’s or the 2000’s anymore. The idea of GMs being only scouts is really passe, even though some teams still have that. Howie has taken advantage of the scouts/GMs over and over.”

Brandt’s comments give insight into the football business, and he discussed what Roseman does well as opposed to other organizations who prefer football-only people in critical positions.

"Howie has taken advantage of the scouts slash GM over and over again because he comes from the background that, frankly, I came from which is: negotiating, legal, financial, business. Now, he’s turned himself into a good scout, but when you come from that background, you come in with an advantage—not only in player contracts, but in trades and moves around the board and negotiating when you are always a step ahead…It’s still confounding to me how these assets worth five, six, seven billion dollars are hiring scouts to run their operation.”

Roseman catches flak for backloading huge contracts and flexing the salary cap to its fullest, but you can’t deny the bounce back or his ability to read the leaves after Wentz was knocked out of the 2020 Wild Card loss to the Seahawks.

Jalen Hurts took over in Week 12 of the next season, and the Eagles’ GM has been retooling the roster while banking on the former Alabama quarterback improving each season since then.

Roseman is a wizard with draft trades and set Philadelphia up to be successful regardless of how Hurts developed.

With the highest-paid quarterback locked in for years to come, Roseman can use vast resources to continue reloading a juggernaut.

https://theeagleswire.usatoday.com/2023/04/18/eagles-news-howie-roseman-andrew-brandt-competitive-advantage-nfl-general-managers/

No doubt Howie is great with the cap and he’s great with moving pieces around. He isn’t great at the draft stuff (though I’ll put my hands up and say he isn’t as bad as a lot of us have made out) but he’s so good with the other aspects of the role.