Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman certainly worked his magic at the 2026 NFL Draft as he made plenty of moves to help his franchise.
In total, Roseman made three trades during the three-day weekend, but his biggest one was moving up three spots in the first round and sending two fourth-round picks to the Dallas Cowboys so that Philly could select USC wide receiver Makai Lemon. Roseman was asked about making that trade when top talent was still entering Day 3, and he was not about to go back on what he had done.
"I don't play a lot of 'what ifs?," Roseman said via The Athletic's Zach Berman. "My mind doesn't work like that. I'd say, feel really good about the decision we made to trade up for Makai (Lemon). Feel really good about the decision we made to bring (Jonathan Greenard) here to Philly. Obviously, it's got to play out. There's no guarantee. But definitely no regrets."
Howie Roseman has zero regrets about trading up for Makai Lemon
Even if the Eagles had those two fourth-round picks, which one of those would actually become starters on the team? It seems more than unlikely that they would make the kind of impact that Lemon can right away.
A.J. Brown is one foot out the door, so Lemon can instantly hop in the lineup as a starter and help that passing game out. Philly clearly had to get aggressive and made the right decision since the Pittsburgh Steelers were already calling Lemon to try to select him at pick 21.
Roseman understands how much more valuable a first-round pick is versus a fourth-round pick, which in reality sounds like a very elementary comment to make. When fans think about it, though, a big topic of discussion during the draft is how NIL has affected it since more players are willing to stay in school to make more money there than they would in the NFL, so the talent level is dropping off.
Read more: Howie Roseman says the quiet part most GMs won't say (but Eagles fans know)
For the Eagles, Roseman would rather have those picks in the first two days and punt on the final day so that he can truly get the best of the best. This is a strategy he will most likely continue to follow, since he is a genius at his job as a general manager.
Add us as a preferred source on Google