Why Howie Roseman believes a painful offseason was essential for Eagles

Why Howie Roseman believes a painful offseason was essential for Eagles originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Howie Roseman learned his lesson last time the Eagles won a Super Bowl. He tried to keep that team intact, he let emotion rule his decisions and he gave contracts to older players near the end of their career.

And then he watched as an aging team slowly declined.

The 2017 Eagles were the 8^th-oldest team in football and by 2018 they were 3^rd-oldest, and the decline was on. The 2018 team did steal a wild-card win in Chicago, but the 2018 and 2019 teams both went 9-7 and the bottom fell out in 2020 with a 4-11-1 disaster that cost Doug Pederson his job.

The three years immediately after the Super Bowl LII win, with an aging roster and a G.M. who admittedly made decisions for the wrong reasons, the Eagles went 22-25-1, the 20^th-best record in the NFL over that three-year span.

It wasn’t until Roseman began replenishing the roster with young players and Nick Sirianni was hired that they became competitive again.

And Roseman told himself: If the Eagles ever win another Super Bowl, I’m not going to let emotions get in the way of smart roster moves.

It’s got to be so hard building a championship roster with homegrown players and then essentially dismantling it. But Roseman learned. You can’t run it back. It just doesn’t work.

And he’s convinced that you can’t sustain success without constantly infusing the roster with young players. That means you have to keep drafting well and that means you have to have a lot of starters on rookie contracts and that means you can pay market value to keep your superstars.

That’s the formula. That’s the plan. And it works.

Roseman’s plan for this offseason was a simple one. Stock up on draft picks. Don’t even try to sign any free agents. Get younger. Trust the kids. Put the compensatory pick formula to work.

It was partly necessitated by the Eagles’ less-than-ideal cap situation but also by Roseman’s understanding that the only way to remain competitive is to make painful decisions when it comes to roster construction.

So while it hurts to see all these players leave, Roseman believes it had to happen if the Eagles are going to continue to compete for championships.

So this offseason has been about getting younger and letting guys like Kelee Ringo, Jeremiah Trotter Jr., Jalyx Hunt, Sydney Brown, Tyler Steen and Moro Ojomo compete for more prominent roles while they’re on cheap rookie deals.

For this approach to work, you have to draft well, and 17 of the 18 players Roseman has drafted in the first four rounds since 2021 have developed into important pieces, with 2021 4^th-rounder Zech McPhearson the only exception – although he did play a lot as a rookie.

There’s certainly a risk factor involved here. Nobody knows if Sydney Brown can replace C.J. Gardner-Johnson or Jeremiah Trotter Jr. can replace Oren Burks until Nakobe Dean is ready or Kelee Ringo can replace Darius Slay. And so on.

But Roseman believes this is the Eagles’ best chance of staying on this run that’s seen them go 39-12 with two Super Bowl appearances over the last three years.

So while other NFL teams over-pay for fading veterans, Howie is trusting the young guys and piling up draft picks, all with an eye to the future.

Williams will bring back a 3^rd-rounder, Sweat a 4^th-rounder, the Kenny Pickett trade got the Eagles a 5^th-rounder – in this year’s draft – and Isaiah Rodgers should be worth a 6th-round pick. And the C.J.G.J. trade turned a 6^th-round pick into a 5.

So as of now, the Eagles have single picks in the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th rounds and four 5^th-round picks in this year’s draft and and then next year single picks in the 1^st and 2^nd round in 2026 plus three 3^rd-rounders, two 4^th-rounders, two 5^th-round selections and one pick each in the sixth and seventh rounds.

That’s 19 picks in the next two years, seven of them in the first three rounds.

That’s what Roseman wanted out of this offseason. Assets that will turn into more young talented players and keep the Eagles competitive year after year after year instead of being bogged down by bloated veteran deals.

And if Roseman and his scouting staff keep nailing draft picks like they have the last four years, those picks will help the Eagles a heck of a lot more than 32-year-old Davante Adams will help the Rams, 31-year-old Grady Jarrett will help the Vikings or 34-year-old Morgan Moses will help the Patriots.

As of now, according to Spotrac, the Eagles have the 2^nd-youngest roster in the NFL, and that still counts 34-year-old Darius Slay and 32-year-old James Bradberry, because they were released with June 1 designations and are still technically on the roster. It won’t be surprising if they have the youngest roster in the NFL by June 2.

The only projected starters who’ll be in their 30s on opening day are Lane Johnson, the best right tackle in football, and Dallas Goedert, who turned 30 in January and may not even be here. The oldest projected defensive starter is Zack Baun, who just turned 28.

It’s no fun seeing guys leave in droves just a few weeks after a historic Super Bowl win in New Orleans and joyous parade up Broad Street.

But Howie got Baun signed. He extended Saquon. He piled up the draft picks. He cleared money to eventually extend Jalen Carter, Reed Blankenship and Cam Jurgens.

It hasn’t been an easy offseason to watch, but it’s an offseason Roseman knows had to happen. And I can’t think of a single reason not to trust him.

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Tags: NFL