Philadelphia Eagles VP Howie Roseman takes lumps in recent GM ranking

Well, this may not come as a shock to anyone that self-identifies as a Philadelphia Eagles fan. It’s definitely worth a mention though, even if it isn’t going to make you feel better about something you’ve discussed with your buddies and co-workers for a while.

You can’t tell the story about Eagles executive vice president and general manager Howie Roseman without discussing his hand in the Birds hoisting their first-ever Vince Lombardi Trophy. That’s a fact. Unfortunately, you also can’t discuss Howie without bringing up those draft snafus, the bad contracts, and Philly losing the only coach that ever led them to a Super Bowl and won it either.

The latter statement is also a fact. You can argue among yourselves about the role he played in that ‘Dream Team’ debacle (yes, he was here for that too).

Philadelphia Eagles fans aren’t the only people who are unimpressed.

There are other things at play here, and they factor in whether you want to admit to them or not. Howie Roseman isn’t the Eagles’ only problem. Much of the blame thrown his way was earned, but he isn’t Philly’s lone issue. The team’s chairman and CEO, Jeffrey Lurie, is just as guilty if not more so.

You can’t fire Lurie though, so here we are. Our two biggest examples of how good a job Howie is doing reside in two areas. How have his drafts gone? How well does he manage the Eagles’ salary cap? Uh oh! Does anyone else see where this is headed?

Recently, Around The NFL writer Gregg Rosenthal dropped his ranking of the league’s 32 general managers. Roseman finished 21st. He beat out Dave Gettleman of the rival New York Giants. He beat out a couple of television stars, Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock. The only other guys he landed ahead of are the new guys who are still learning to do their jobs like Andrew Berry and two guys with ties to the Eagles, namely Joe Douglas and Andrew Berry.

Does anyone else see an issue with this? You should. Don’t take our word for it though. Here are a few words from Rosenthal on the topic.

"Signing Wentz to a massive second contract has proven far more costly (the Eagles have a $33.8 million dead-money hit in 2021, per Over The Cap) than moving up to select him second overall, as Wentz contributed significantly to a Super Bowl title…  The picks Philadelphia traded away for Wentz, however, left the team with a smaller margin for error that Roseman didn’t sufficiently compensate for with quality selections. The next-best picks since 2016 include Dallas Goedert, Miles Sanders, Avonte Maddox, and Derek Barnett. Roseman deserves credit for an Eagles roster that was loaded from 2017 to 2019, but it wasn’t because of recent drafts."

It’s hard to argue with that, isn’t it? The argument can be made, again, that Jeffrey Lurie deserves more blame than he’s been getting, but he can’t be fired. With each passing day, Birds fans invent and reinvent new reasons to hate this guy. All hope isn’t lost for the little guy.

This Jalen Hurts pick has the opportunity of being one of the wisest moves Howie ever made. He can also do a lot to ensure a couple of makeup dates with the media and the fans if he does some good things in the upcoming NFL Draft.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much evidence that suggests Philadelphia Eagles fans have reason to believe he’ll be able to do so. The nightmare continues among the most loyal fan base in all of sports.