Philadelphia Eagles: Howie Roseman’s bad choices overshadow recent hits

Can we call Howie Roseman’s tenure with the Philadelphia Eagles a mixed bag?

There isn’t just one reason why the Philadelphia Eagles currently hold a 1-3-1 record. There are a few. This team is quite different from the one that won the Super Bowl in February of 2018 and their roster is in worse shape than it has been in a long while.

Chief among the Eagles attrition is their ability or lack thereof to acquire playmakers, something they had no problem doing just a few years back. Back in 2016 general manager Howie Roseman took over a roster that had been turned upside down by his predecessor, Chip Kelly, and quickly made his presence known.

At that time, Roseman made aggressive moves to slash the payroll. He shipped off overpriced veterans such as cornerback Byron Maxwell and running back DeMarco Murray. He signed key contributors such as safety Rodney McLeod and guard Brandon Brooks. Moreover, he found the Eagles quarterback of the future when he drafted Carson Wentz in with the second-overall selection in 2016’s version of the NFL Draft.

Although Roseman seemed to have mortgage Philly’s future when he traded a third and fourth-round pick in 2016, a first-round pick in 2017, and a second-rounder in 2018, he aggressively targeted a player he thought was going to be one of the team’s building blocks.

Roseman also made plenty of free-agent additions that benefited the team in the short term. Bringing wide receiver Alshon Jeffery was the right thing to do (then), and so was the signing of linebacker Nigel Bradham. What seemed like a series of ballsy moves ended up catapulting the Eagles to the Super Bowl not too long after. Here are two thoughts on what has happened since then.