Grading Howie Roseman’s 2016 personnel decisions
Free Agency: C+
Roseman inked McLeod to a five-year, $37 million deal, pairing the high-flying safety up with Pro Bowler Malcolm Jenkins.
Although McLeod was criticized at the end of the year for his lack of effort in the red zone, the production was there all season.
McLeod finished third on the team with 87 tackles to go with 3 interceptions and a sack.
Despite Philadelphia’s corners giving up big plays, McLeod was able to stop a lot of plays from turning into touchdowns.
McLeod allows Roseman to focus on fixing the cornerback position through the draft as he and Jenkins can hold down the fort at safety for a long time.
Grade: A-
The former Texans right guard was the most efficient Eagles lineman on the field. According to Pro Football Focus, Brooks was ranked as the 25th best offensive lineman in the NFL.
In 14 games played, Brooks only allowed 15 QB pressures and was penalized only 3 times.
If he can overcome the anxiety issues that sidelined the veteran for two games, Roseman will have found a big-time interior lineman who was very efficient in both pass protection and the running game.
Grade: A
Unless you’re a Buffalo Bills fan, odds are when the Eagles signed Bradham you didn’t have much of an initial reaction.
Bradham was very productive in Jim Schwartz’s defense during the 2014-15 season while in Buffalo, finishing with 66 tackles, two sacks and seven pass deflections to go along with an interception.
In Bradham’s first year with the Eagles, he was able to have a career season on the field, leading the team in tackles with 102, two sacks and an interception.
Off the field issues did cause a distraction for the team. Bradham was in a physical altercation with a pool boy over the summer, and was charged for carrying a concealed weapon at an airport.
On the field, however, this was another solid signing for Roseman.
Grade: B
This was a horrible signing. As someone who was raised in a Buffalo Bills household, I have seen my fair share of McKelvin biting on the first move and seeing his receiver 30 yards behind him.
The Eagles were ranked as PFF’s worst secondary and a lot of it was on McKelvin.
Listen to this stat. McKelvin gave up the most yardage per snap in the NFL, four times as much as the second highest which belonged to Vikings corner Terrence Newman.
This was not Roseman’s proudest move.
Best move on from McKelvin in the offseason.
Grade: F
Sensing a trend with some of these signings? Jim Schwartz clearly had say in who Roseman brought in on defense.
Brooks was another former Bill brought over to help the transition back to a 4-3 front under Schwartz.
Brooks never had a role on defense for the Bills, mainly contributing on special teams. It was a different story in Philadelphia however as Brooks became the starting slot corner, allowing Malcolm Jenkins to stay at safety.
Despite how effective Brooks was on the field, his absence from the defense forced Jenkins to play in the slot, pushing Jaylen Watkins at safety.
His injury hurt the Eagles more then fans may have realized.
Grade: C
Despite some questionable remarks about playing time early on in the season, the veteran guard/center actually played pretty well in limited action at left guard this season.
Wisniewski started six games for the Eagles and worked very well with Jason Peters and Jason Kelce.
Wisniewski was especially efficient in the run game as the Eagles finished 11th in total rushing despite the lack of a real bell cow at running back.
Grade: B
Nobody else was coming to Chase Daniel with a $7 million per year contract like the Eagles did.
Doug Pederson is comfortable with Daniel, who backed up Alex Smith in Kansas City when Pederson was the offensive coordinator, so bringing him in to help transition into the new offense made sense, but the cost was far too much.
Daniel is the 26th highest paid quarterback in the NFL.
Let that sink in for a minute.
Daniel is an undersized quarterback with a below average arm. It is logical to bring him in as a backup, but the amount of money Roseman gave him was a huge error in reading the market.
Grade: D-
The fall of Randle is one of the more peculiar situations in the NFL.
It was only a year ago that Randle was a starting receiver for the New York Giants and although he wasn’t dominating, he did have 938 yards in 2014, and 797 in 2015.
How he went from a solid second receiver to not getting open once in the Eagles preseason, and eventually getting cut is a mystery.
Randle was a guy that just looked like he didn’t want to play football anymore.
Despite Roseman and Pederson saying they wanted to go young at wide receiver, I believe Randle was signed with the expectations he would become a starter at wide receiver.
Grade: F
Another failure at wide receiver by Howie Roseman. Givens was supposed to be the deep threat the Eagles were severely lacking, but that never panned out.
Givens was cut in the preseason, but it is hard to say if he would have made an impact during the season with Carson Wentz.
At the time, Sam Bradford was starting at QB. Bradford isn’t an aggressive passer that pushes the ball downfield so the need for Givens was small.
Perhaps if Roseman knew he could trade Bradford and go with Wentz as history projected, Givens may have had a role on this team.
For that “what if”, Givens gets a D rather than an F
Grade: D