Roseman on the Draft
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagletarian
Roseman on the Draft
Les Bowen and Daily News staff
Howie Roseman has been in the Eagles' war room for 10 drafts -- he was the lowest-ranking person there in 2001, the guy who relayed the choice of Freddy Mitchell in the first round to video coordinator Mike Dougherty, on the other end of the phone line in New York.
This year, though, his first as the Birds' general manager, Roseman will actually have some say in the name that is relayed, when the Eagles pick 24th overall in the first round of the draft, which is being held next Thursday evening. The second and third rounds are Friday evening and the final four rounds are scheduled for Saturday. It's the first time for the three-day format, and Roseman thinks that will lead to more wheeling and dealing than when teams were always on the clock.
"Because of the lull in the time, I think there's going to be more trades, moving up and moving back," Roseman said Thursday during a predraft session held with reporters covering the team. "We're excited about that. We think we have a lot of ammunition to do both those things, and if the opportunity presents itself, we'll go there."
The Eagles have 11 picks in what is being touted as an exceptionally deep draft. They are slated to pick five times among the first 87 choices, through three rounds. Roseman said the Eagles went out of their way to bolster what originally was a larder of six choices, because this draft offers so much talent.
"We saw that this draft could really help us, from an overall team perspective, and we went out and we got five other picks, two of them (compensatory picks) from the league, and we feel like they're in strong places in the draft," he said.
Roseman said he will look at the Birds' first second-round pick -- No. 37 overall, obtained from the Redskins for Donovan McNabb -- as "the fifth pick in the draft" that day.
"I think it's going to be fun," he said.
Other highlights:
*Roseman acknowledged that the possible return of Jeff Garcia might hinge on whether the Eagles draft a developmental quarterback, something they probably would like to do, but can't be certain of doing -- especially since they won't be looking for a QB early in what is not a strong QB field. Roseman said he anticipates Michael Vick will be with the Eagles this season, but he said the Eagles continue to field offers, as they would for virtually any player.
*Asked about teams near the top of the draft wanting to move down, Roseman said that seems to be the case, as it has been so often lately, with teams feeling high picks get too much guaranteed money under the expiring CBA. (That's one of the main reasons owners are unhappy and the sport could be facing a 2011 lockout..)
*Roseman said that particularly in the area where the Eagles are drafting in the first round, you have to be careful not to draft exclusively for need, that history shows when teams do that, they often pass up on Pro Bowl players at other spots.
*Roseman not surprisingly was noncommital about the trade of Sheldon Brown making cornerback a higher priority for the Eagles. He expressed "a lot of confidence" in Ellis Hobbs, who didn't cover very well last season before suffering a serious neck injury.
*He said the defensive line crop is particularly deep in this draft. "We have more defensive linemen graded (as being worthy of being selected) in the first three rounds than we've had in the whole drafts the last three years," Roseman said,
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Offensive lineman Max Jean-Gilles signed his tender, agreeing to a 1-year contract. Jean-Gilles had been a restricted free agent.
Only punter Sav Rocca remains unsigned among the team's restricted free agents. Today is the deadline for other teams to make offers to RFAs; teams have until June to re-sign their own players. Rocca spends his offseasons in his native Australia and is expected back for the first minicamp, in less than two weeks.
A fourth-round draft choice of the Eagles in 2006, Jean-Gilles has appeared in 29 career regular season games, including 16 starts. He played in 14 games in 2009 (including playoffs), starting six games at right guard.
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Gosh, take a look at this. A certain former Eagle has a new look ...
It had to happen one day, but it will definitely take some time to get accustomed to it.
Can somebody tell me who calls the shots in the eagles warroom! I believe it is AR am i wrong?— larryv
Comment removed.- @ LongTallDrink- that was funny!— riza1976
- Winning Banner and Lurie's Fantasy Football League every year has finally paid off for young Howie. Never having, at any level, played, coached, or buckle a chinstrap gives Roseman a unique perspective on evaluating personnel. And if he fails, he can always say he had no idea what he was doing.— LongTallDrink
- Comment removed.
- The Eagles always have a history of saying one thing and doing another... They said "We are fine at WR" over and over and over - then they finally signed T.O... later drafted Reggie Brown... later signed Donte Stallworth... later drafted DeSean Jackson... later drafted Jeremy Maclin. Every time they said, "We like the guys we have" or some variation of that shortly before they signed or drafted one of these guys. They recently said that Donovan McNabb was going to be their starter in the 2010 season. See how that worked out? **** I would be HUGELY surprised if they didn't take one CB or more in the first 3 rounds. The thing is, they have to talk their guys up. If they don't and then they don't get the guy the really want, then they're stuck with a player the didn't really want starting (or on the roster)... and both the team and that player would end up embarassed.— knighn
- Davimcg - you're right, he looked crummy this year. But we said the same thing about Winston Justice right before the draft last time.— dragoon6
- If Max Jean-Gilles is on the roster for the opener you can rest assured the Eagles have not upgraded their offensive line.— davimcg
- Wow! This guy will say anything! He said Ellis Hobbs is the answer!! Really? He couldn't beat out Sheldon but he's good enough to be the starter withe messed up neck. I guess we will have two corners that aren't going to tackle. At least he has an excuse!!!— riza1976
- Roesman gets his "big chance" in this year's draft. My thinking is that he begins the Rosie era and eventually runs Andy out of town i.e., provided Howie's draft choices pan out. This should be a very interesting draft! Notice how much press time Howie is getting now vs Tommie Hiccup. Beware!— walt1
- This statement 'He said the defensive line crop is particularly deep in this draft. "We have more defensive linemen graded (as being worthy of being selected) in the first three rounds than we've had in the whole drafts the last three years,"' is 1 of 2 things; a ploy to throw off other teams who feel the Eagles will draft a DL with the 24 from trading up ahead of them. Or, it is an indication that DL will be drafted later rather than sooner.— The Reddgie
- Kenny Sav didn't sign yet . . his agent said . . because he lives in Australia . . . apparently . . they don't have ' fax ' machines down under . . .— ingy9
- oh ya Daniel Snyder, Im glad youre in my division. Lets see, with mcnabb and a backfield of Portis, Johnson and Parker you would have killed it 6 yrs ago.— peteike
- Man I was having a bad day and seeing McNabb in Redskin colors just made my day and weekend!!! He's their problem now.— #12Cunningham#12
- who is this Donovan guy?
- Another key component of the Gold Standard.— CrashTestCorzine
- Comment removed.
