Howie Roseman, Hell-Bent on Revenge Against Chip Kelly, is Destroying the Eagles
By Jason McIntyre
You already know that trading up in the draft to take a quarterback doesn’t work. There’s ample evidence backing this up. Historically, it hasn’t worked. Hey, maybe an FCS quarterback from North Dakota State with 23 college starts – just one against a Power 5 school – will buck the trend. Who knows.
A day after the Eagles and their bumbling GM Howie Roseman traded up to the No. 2 spot to grab Carson Wentz, it feels like a good time to revisit something Roseman said just one year ago:
"“When you’re looking at trading up, at some point, your board drops off so dramatically in terms of how you evaluate that player,” Roseman said, as heard on the conference’s webcast. “But the history of trading up for one player, when you look at those trades, isn’t good for the team trading up and putting a lot of resources into it. “Because the guys who are really good at the draft, if you’re hitting on 60 percent of your first-round picks, that’s a pretty good track record. And then it’s dropping as you go through the rounds. So really, the more chances you get, the more tickets to the lottery you get, the better you should be doing.”"
Of course, there’s an interesting subplot: Roseman said this in April 2015 … five months after he’d been banished as GM of the Eagles by Chip Kelly. At the time of the comments, Kelly and the Eagles were discussing trading up for Marcus Mariota. Of course these comments were a shot at the man in his organization he was feuding with.
That dope Howie Roseman isn’t caught up with rebuilding the Eagles right now – he’s focused on 1) undoing everything Chip Kelly did and 2) trying to do things Chip Kelly couldn’t. Look at his offseason moves. Immediately, he cut Riley Cooper. He traded DeMarco Murray for pennies on the dollar, a horrible deal. Ditto Byron Maxwell, the cornerback.
From my point of view, these are moves of an insecure, simple-minded man, hell-bent on revenge. Sure, Murray and Maxwell looked terrible last year with the Eagles, but the idea of selling those two players at the low point in their careers is a horrible business strategy.
Want more? The deal with Cleveland leaves the Eagles with just two of the first 152 picks in this year’s draft. They have no 2nd round pick (Sam Bradford trade), and they gave up the 3rd and 4th round picks in the Browns trade.
Furthermore, consider this: The Eagles, assuming they land Wentz, will have the most money tied up in the QB position in the NFL. Between Sam Bradford and Chase Daniel, the Eagles already have nearly 11% of their salary cap locked into two QBs. Toss in Wentz’s rookie deal – the #2 pick, Mariota, got a 4-year, $24.2 million deal last year – and it’ll add at least 3% to that number, so the Eagles will have 14% of their salary cap tied to three QBs next year. (Two of the highest-paid QBs in the NFL next year will be Eagles.) Unless Sam Bradford gets hurt, don’t expect Wentz to throw a pass as a rookie.
Worst-case: The Eagles, who haven’t improved at any position in free agency, struggle in a division where the Cowboys will have a healthy Tony Romo and the Giants just spent a ton of money to improve defensively, finish last. Doug Pederson’s rookie coaching year ends 4-12. Maybe losing three starters (Murray, Maxwell, Alonzo) is addition by subtraction, but who are they replacing them with? Exactly.
Going 4-12 would probably mean a Top 5 pick … but the Browns get that pick in the Wentz deal.
Gulp.
Lastly: Roseman, we get it. You wanted to show the Big Swinging Dick is back, and you pulled off the trade up for a QB that Chip Kelly couldn’t do last year.
Yeah!
Way to go!
Good luck.