PHILADELPHIA – Howie Roseman’s annual predraft press conferences are always sprinkled with some variation of the phrase “learning from my mistakes.”
It was no different Wednesday.
“Certainly, when you look at some of the mistakes that I’ve made personally, it’s because you try to force something,” Roseman said when asked if wide receiver and/or cornerback will be a priority early in the draft because those were two positions the Eagles didn’t really address in free agency.
Or when asked about why the Eagles could end up drafting a wide receiver in the first or second round for the fourth straight year, Roseman responded:
“I think you’re constantly evaluating the things that you do wrong, and you also want to learn from the things you did right and lessons that you have from that,” he said. “You’re going to mess things up, but what can you learn from those picks that didn’t work out?”
It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence heading into the draft next weekend. The Eagles have two first-round picks – No. 15 and No. 18 – a second-rounder and two third-rounders.
It’s easy to see that the greatest needs are at wide receiver, cornerback, safety, defensive line and linebacker.
Still, it’s one thing to say you’re not going to “force something,” but it’s another thing to, you know, pick the right player.
Roseman will still be picking those players.
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Eagles chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie last month gave Roseman a three-year contract extension. That not only includes this draft, but also the 2023 draft when the Eagles have two more first-round picks.
The Eagles might need to pool those resources in 2023 to either draft or trade for a quarterback if Jalen Hurts doesn’t pan out this season.
Yet Lurie has unwavering faith in Roseman, as he explained last month at the NFL owners’ meetings.
“We’ve been in the playoffs four of the [last] five years and won the Super Bowl,” Lurie said. “He’s really good at building a roster and rebuilding the roster. And he’s very, very well regarded in the league.”
Sure, it’s nice that the Eagles made the playoffs in four of the last five seasons. But after the Super Bowl season, the Eagles have gotten into the postseason with records of 9-7, 9-7 and 9-8.
Throw in the 2020 fiasco of 4-11-1, and that’s a record of 31-33-1 and one playoff win since 2017.
No wonder Roseman is “building a roster and rebuilding the roster,” especially at wide receiver.
He missed in the 2019 draft with J.J. Arcega-Whiteside in the second round, and in the 2020 draft with Jalen Reagor in the first round.
That led Roseman to maneuver picks – netting the extra first-rounder this year – and wind up with wide receiver DeVonta Smith.
Few GMs are better at getting extra picks.
Roseman showed that again earlier this month in his deal with the Saints. Roseman gave the Saints two first-round picks (No. 16 and No. 19) and the Eagles’ sixth-round pick (No. 197) in exchange for the Saints’ first-round pick this year (No. 18).
Roseman also received an extra first-rounder in 2023, an extra third-rounder (No. 101) and seventh-rounder (No. 237) this year, plus an extra second-round pick in 2024.
Roseman masterfully pulled off a heist.
The Eagles will need those picks. They didn’t do much in free agency this year, choosing not to pay the $20 million per season or more for such wide receivers as Amari Cooper, Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams and others.
They didn’t add a cornerback in free agency while letting starter Steven Nelson leave. They brought back Anthony Harris at safety while letting Rodney McLeod, the other starter, leave.
And Hurts’ future is still undetermined beyond this year. Roseman said he has to give Hurts better players to work with. That didn’t happen in free agency, so it has to happen in the draft.
So the Eagles can’t miss if they’re taking a wide receiver early, whether it’s someone like Ohio State’s Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave, USC’s Drake London, or Arkansas’ Treylon Burks in the first round; or Georgia’s George Pickens, and Western Michigan’s Skyy Moore in the second.
And it’s the same thing at cornerback, whether it’s trading up to get someone like Cincinnati’s Sauce Gardner or LSU’s Derek Stingley Jr. Or even a safety, whether it’s trading up for Notre Dame’s Kyle Hamilton, or possibly trading back for Michigan’s Daxton Hill.
So here is where Roseman has to learn from his mistakes from the past in Reagor and Arcega-Whiteside, and prove he has learned, like he did last season with Smith in the first round and offensive lineman Landon Dickerson in the second.
Smith and Dickerson weren’t necessarily the safest picks. Smith weighs less than 170 pounds and Dickerson was coming off a torn ACL.
But those picks also weren’t forced, like Reagor was, with the Eagles desiring a speed receiver as opposed to the best receiver, Justin Jefferson, who went with the very next pick.
Jefferson is the first wide receiver in NFL history with 3,000 yards receiving in his first two seasons. Reagor had 695 yards in two seasons.
“Obviously, I know (Reagor) gets a lot of attention in this city, and I know he’s working his butt off,” Roseman said. “When you look back … (2020) was a hard year for some guys because you had COVID, you didn’t have an offseason program.
“So sometimes, the book isn’t necessarily written on all those guys.”
Enough of it was written for Roseman to know the Eagles can’t miss like that again.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
