The phone hangs up and a big hug is shared with team owner Jeffery Lurie, followed by a set of his patented fist bumps shared with colleagues across the room.
After an hour of failed attempts and phone calls chasing the same player, once again Howie has got his man!
In typical #HowieSZN fashion the player Eagles General Manager, Howie Roseman always coveted has somehow fallen into his lap.
With the NFL Draft now it the books, the Philadelphia Eagles and their draft class are once again the talk of the town in the NFL world.
After executing five draft day trades, a far cry from the record setting eight trades the team made a year ago. Yet enough to add to an already deep arsenal of selections, Howie Roseman and co. produced what is now the franchises largest draft class since 2020.
None of those trades, however, were bigger than the one on the first night of the draft that set the stage for what was to come.
“You fit right in perfectly, and unbelievable. Jihaad congrats man,” Eagles owner Jeff Lurie said to Jihaad Campbell as he wrapped up Campbell’s draft call.
To hear Lurie use the term ‘fit’ is what stands out here. At face value, fit typically comes down to how a player can and should be utilized from a schematic standpoint.
However, this is only the surface level as to how and why a player can be successful. As the layers begin to reveal themselves, you soon realize fit is a fine blend between the day-to-day use of a skillset and how a player inserts into the culture that a team is trying to build.
This now begs the question, what is culture?
By definition it is the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depend upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations.
Building a culture however is based solely on the ideological beliefs of those involved. For some such as now Raiders coach Pete Carroll, culture is built through creating a competitive environment thriving for the opportunity of self improvement.
For others culture is based upon the level of morality players choose to carry themselves with on a day to day basis.
For the Philadelphia Eagles however, their culture is built well beyond the norms of the rest of the league.
This behind the practice of what is referred to as the Cohabitation Matrix beyond the walls of the Novacare Complex.
The process was bought in by former V.P. of Player Personnel, Joe Douglas through the belief that every player that becomes a part of the franchise must have some sort of connection to the city, roster, or organization in a deep rooted way. This is done in order to not only gather a detailed understanding of said player, but to ensure comfortability upon arrival.
Roseman has acknowledged that the practice may be a bit unconventional, but as he often states the goal in this league is to be ahead of the curve. In many ways, it’s looking for any little advantage you can garner to put your franchise ahead.
For Philadelphia, the results speak for themselves. Playoff appearances in seven of the last eight seasons, with three of those amounting to Super Bowl appearances and two victories to count.
Look no further than the current construction of the Eagles roster, to see the foundation the Cohabitation Matrix has laid. The acquisition of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, both of whom have long lasting relationships with franchise quarterback Jalen Hurts.
The team selected linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL Draft, who has been around the franchise since his childhood as his father became a stalwart for the team in the early 2000’s.
A big reason why the team was able to acquire running back Saquon Barkley last offseason was due to his Pennsylvania roots.
Barkley moved to the Lehigh Valley area in 2001, raised during the era where the Eagles often vacated the area for training camps.
The same can be mentioned for Jahan Dotson. And as we all know, the team has six players who played college football at Alabama, and eight who played at Georgia. All of which, who have some ties or another to each other.
“Our grading scale isn’t really round-based, it’s more how this person comes in and fits with our team,” Douglas stated during an interview while employed with the team.
“Fit is a big thing we discuss in these draft meetings. Chemistry is a hard thing to quantify, right? It’s not an objective thing. It’s a little bit more subjective, but you know when you’ve got it. We had it last year and we’re trying to add to it.”
Even during an offseason that the front office considers to be paramount in terms of the continued success of the team during this specific window. The Eagles continue to apply the same tactics that have made them successful for the better part of a decade.
Look no further than a multitude of the selections the team made in this year’s NFL Draft.
The aforementioned Campbell was a textbook Eagles selection, hailing from Erial, New Jersey just 20 minute from Lincoln Financial Field.
“It’s been very exciting, just going on his new journey, him being drafted by his favorite team ever since he was 4 years old.” said his mother, Stephanie.
“Just watching the games with family – his grandfather, his father, and uncle, and now he gets to play for this special team. It’s been great.”
How about the homecoming for former St. Joseph Prep standout Kyle McCord, who helped spear three state championships for the Hawks. McCord finished his tenure as the Philadelphia Catholic League all time leader in passing yards (6,887) and passing touchdowns with 88.
The conversation even follows suit with Smeal Mondon Jr. who joins the multitude of his Georgia brethren and Ty Robinson, who was ecstatic once again rejoining former Nebraska teammate Cam Jurgens.
The Cohabitation Matrix ideology isn’t just one that Philadelphia uses to acquire top tier talent however, this belief stretches wide and far even in the UDFA market.
Seemingly lost in the shuffle of draft day is the acquisition of Toledo safety Maxen Hook. Not just because his work as a four year starter that plays the game with a nonstop motor and has an ability to impact the game on special teams. Hook was also the roommate of Eagles standout cornerback Quinyon Mitchell during their time as Rockets.
The amount of due process that goes into the vetting of these players is easily the most important part of developing this style of culture. While like every franchise, Philadelphia has set it boundaries in terms of what they will not allow from prospects and players alike.
Roseman understands that there are rewards behind the risk of some of these players. “Background’s really important,” Roseman said. “We’ve had some guys who’ve come here, who’ve maybe had a (bad) reputation and fit really well, and there’s also the flip side of that. So you try to balance all of those…”
The Philadelphia Eagles team building process can be described as polarizing by many and different at best.
But as the ole adage would say, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it and judging by the location in which they were allocated to selected in the draft by a round by round basis — 32nd typically the spot of the Super Bowl champions (yes subtle flex). A nuanced yet irregular approach is just the type needed to stay ahead of the aforementioned curve.
Is this confirming the power of friendship is the best approach? Not ideally, but acquiring talent that just so happens to have a significant connection to what you are trying to build isn’t such a bad idea.
“There are a lot of things they are going to coming into in this league that are unfamiliar to them, right?” Spoke Head Coach Nick Sirianni during a post draft press conference in 2023.
“There’s countless amount of things. So to have a little bit of a sense of familiarity with some of the guys that you’ve went to battle with and won a lot of games with, I think that’s a huge part for these guys to have in each other.”
Despite the numerous of approaches around the league, you’d be hard pressed to find one as calculated as what Philadelphia is implementing.
Where scouts work tirelessly to do the much needed homework, the secondary opinions the Eagles supply themselves with gives the team answers to questions that even the players couldn’t provide themselves.
Whether the rest of the league adopts this process remains to be seen but the defending champions have laid out the blueprint.
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