Before getting into the details of this situation, I want to make something clear. As a prospective writer, my credibility and trustworthiness are elements that I am working hard to build and they’re elements that I take very serious. The source I spoke with (on the condition of anonymity) is someone I trust unequivocally. I would never intentionally set fire to what I am attempting to build. This is information that I believe to be 100% true.
Now, onto the article:
Over the past few days, much has been made of the Eagles front office structure.
Louis Riddick delivered scathing remarks on the job Howie Roseman has done since his reinstatement to the head of the Philadelphia Eagles personnel department.
“You’re charged with drafting impact players that make a difference, particularly when you’re talking about first and second rounders. Well, who are the impact players? A lot of the impact players on this team who are homegrown talent are guys Andy Reid drafted, whether you’re talking about Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham. You’re going back a few years when you’re talking about guys who were actually homegrown players. And if you look over the past four to five drafts, there aren’t any,” Riddick said in an interview on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
“Knowing how scouting departments are evaluated and it’s not even what other players have done that you could have drafted on other teams, because that’s really not a fair way to compare. Just because a player is doing somewhere else, that doesn’t necessarily mean that performance would translate to your place. It’s what have you done with the people you draft? And that record speaks for itself. That’s objectively looking at it and going, ‘These are players who have not performed to the level they were drafted, whether it be first, second or third round,’ whatever criteria you want to use,” Riddick continued.
“If you want to play that game of the players you could have had instead of the players you have drafted, well then it gets worse. Because there have been some impact players that were available that weren’t selected. That’s just being objective and very baseline about it. Ownership’s going to have to take a look at that and say, ‘Well, do I want to hold people accountable for that or do I think there’s some other reason why the players we have selected haven’t turned out to be as good as they need to be?’ That’s on them. But I think ultimately, in the end, the record speaks for itself and it’s not good enough,” Riddick stated.
Every word Riddick said was relevant and truthful, especially considering that since 2013, under Roseman’s leadership, the Eagles have drafted just 1 pro bowler (Carson Wentz). Simply put, Roseman has not been good enough outside of 2017.
Then there was the report from John Clayton:
Now onto what I was told.
On Roseman, Lurie, and the drafting process
- “Lurie trusts him (Roseman) because he feels safe with Howie. Lurie is overly involved with Howie and the draft, a lot of selections.”
- “There were a lot of people who told him to take DK.” Roseman (and Joe Douglas) balked and selected J.J. Arcega-Whiteside in an effort to secure a replacement for Alshon Jeffery.
- “Lurie was a huge factor in that pick (JJAW).”
- “Many people (scouts) told Roseman to go with Justin Jefferson but he saw Tyreek Hill, looked at Reagor and said, you can do that.”
- On the Hurts pick, “It was all about Wentz’s injuries,” (specifically, the concussion).
This matches up with what was said by Eagles VP of Player Personnel, Andy Weidl after the draft. Weidl stated to NBC10 reporter, John Clark on the selection of Hurts,”It’s just the insurance policy. No team in the league knows the value of an insurance policy at QB more than we do after what we went through in the 2017 season and what we experienced.”
The “Quarterback Factory” sentiments from Howie Roseman after the selection of Hurts was odd when Roseman said it the first time, and it’s still odd to this day.
- Another thing that was reiterated to me was how hard it truly is to work with Roseman in the personnel department (take that for what it’s worth).
On Doug Pederson and the Coaching Staff
- “Doug doesn’t have a lot of control, he probably has the least amount of control in the league for a head coach.”
- “Doug liked the old staff (2018-2019) because they didn’t object.”
This would explain Pederson’s quick declaration that both former offensive coordinator, Mike Groh and former wide receivers coach, Carson Walch would be back in their respective roles for the 2020 season during an end of the year press conference. However, as we all know, that is not the case. And as we know, Jeff Lurie lead the charge to bring new ideas to the offense and reportedly, Roseman spearheaded both, the interviews of prospective candidates and the subsequent hire of offensive assistants.
- On Jim Schwartz
- The fact that Schwartz has a lot of say in personnel was reiterated multiple times, of course Roseman has final say but as reported, Schwartz has power, virtually more power than any of defensive coordinator in the NFL.
- “He really is in charge of every little bit of the defense.”
There you have it. This was everything I was told about the current make-up of the Philadelphia Eagles brass.
With respect to how much Lurie admires Roseman, I think it’s unlikely that Roseman is actually fired. However, I do think that it’s likely that Roseman’s drafting authority will be revoked. Considering what Lurie said on Roseman and his personnel department back in 2017, this is almost certain.
“Howie and I discussed when he was going to be in the football operations role was he had to have a top-notch player personnel department,” Lurie said. “Or we were going to find somebody that could find a great player personnel department. That was his responsibility,” Lurie said to the media.
Can you, someone who has likely watched this team week in and week out over the past few years, say that Roseman has lived up to this condition?
Undoubtedly, 2017 was an amazing year and Roseman deserves all the credit in the world for putting together a Super-Bowl winning roster, but the facts are the facts.
- Roseman has drafted just one Pro-Bowler since 2013.
- Remove 2017 and Roseman’s playoff record as an executive: 1-4, total record: 55-51-1 and even if you remove the year in which Chip Kelly assumed personnel control (absent 2017), Roseman’s record is 48-42-1.
- Since the Eagles Super-Bowl win the Eagles are 22-23-1.
- The Eagles 2021 cap situation (According to OverTheCap.com) is dreadful. (-$65,373,761).
- The Eagles have missed on several impact players during Roseman’s tenure as personnel commander.
And of course it definitely isn’t all on Roseman. Outside of 2017, the production of the Eagles passing offense has been lamentable.
- 2016: 16th in team offense/ 28th in yards per play
- 2018: 18th in team offense/ 17th in yards per play
- 2019: 12th in team offense/ 22nd in yards per play
- 2020 (so far): 25th in team offense/ 29th in yards per play
Of course, as stated, the Super-Bowl winning campaign cannot go understated and the results yielded from that season cannot and should not be glossed over. However, it is practical to wonder if maybe (just maybe) that year was truly an anomaly. An anomaly in reference to the general manager, coaching and players.
Lastly, the information provided to me was from a source I trust. I wouldn’t attach both my name and The Philly Blitz name to this if I didn’t regard the information as anything less than the truth.
The Philly Blitz 