Philadelphia Eagles: Ranking 4 of Howie Roseman’s recent roster blunders

Here’s one that seemed like a good idea for the Philadelphia Eagles at the time.

As mad as some of you might be about Howie’s decision to guarantee the 2020 salary of Alshon Jeffery, the inability to move him earlier this offseason (doing so would have allowed them to prorate his dead cap money over two seasons) and the fact that keeping him around injured holds the team hostage financially, the reason this snafu isn’t ranked higher is this.

When ’17’ inked his four-year, 52 million extension on December 2nd of 2017 ($27 million of that was guaranteed), the idea didn’t seem like a bad one at the time.

Prior to Philly’s first-ever Super Bowl run, the need for help at wide receiver was obvious. The ‘Birds’ were looking for weapons for Carson Wentz while battling cap constraints. Stop us if any of this sounds familiar.

Most Eagles fans would have been happy to land Torrey Smith or Alshon Jeffery, perhaps the biggest fish in free agency’s pool at wide receiver that offseason). Howie landed both of them. The latter got a one-year deal for $14 million on March 9th of 2017, played one of the best seasons by a wideout in the franchise’s history, and did so, as we learned later while playing with a torn rotator cuff.

Philly had to extend Jeffery, especially seeing as how Smith was, at best, average on the other side of the ball. Unfortunately, he’s deteriorated physically. Sure, much of Philly’s fan base sees him as a snitch, and despite the fact that he’ll begin the season on the PUP list, Jeffery could return at some point during the season and pay a big role in this team’s success. For that reason, one of Howie’s more well-known miscues lands on this list at number four.