Rosenhaus: A New Deal, Dealing with Birds
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagletarian
Rosenhaus: A New Deal, Dealing with Birds
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
After the LeSean McCoy news conference ended Thursday night at NovaCare, reporters broke into groups. One group clustered around agent Drew Rosenhaus, another around Eagles general manager Howie Roseman. Some TV reporters waited to do one-on-one interviews with McCoy about his new, five-year, $45 million deal.
As Rosenhaus was about to say something, he was interrupted by a voice bellowing from one of the other groups: "NEXT QUESTION!" Rosenhaus chuckled, as he has, oh, roughly a zillion times since that day late in 2005 when the agent stood on Terrell Owens' scraggly Moorestown yard and made himself the focal point of a region's collective anger and disappointment.
These are different days. Rosenhaus, who represents seven current Eagles, has worked out big-money long-term deals this offseason for three of those clients. Not only did the Eagles sign DeSean Jackson (5 years, $51 million), Evan Mathis (five years, $25.5 million) and McCoy, they did so with no bruised feelings, no public sparring, no anonymously-sourced intimations that one side or the other was being unreasonable.
As McCoy mentioned in the news conference, he briefly fired Rosenhaus last season, twice. Rosenhaus said Thursday that was because McCoy questioned the Rosenhaus relationship with the Eagles, whether the team would deal effectively with him. Certainly, there were tensions last season attending the Jackson situation. But those tensions clearly have resolved.
"Right now, we're on a roll with them," Rosenhaus said.
Rosenhaus said he spoke with team representatives three or four times a week this offseason about the McCoy contract. He said there was one major reason the deal got done.
"Andy Reid really wanted to see LeSean stay with the Eagles," Rosenhaus said. Of course, McCoy was probably going to stay with the Eagles regardless -- he had a year left on his rookie deal, the team could have just franchised him after that -- but what Rosenhaus meant was that Reid wanted McCoy to stay with the Eagles HAPPILY, a concept that has not always driven the Birds' negotiating strategy.
"When we we were working on this deal, coach Reid was sitting in on the meetings. It wasn't so much that he was taking sides, he just wanted to see it get done," Rosenhaus said. "So I think coach Reid really was the difference."
Rosenhaus also said: "We've had success working with Howie," in the two years since Roseman ascended to his current job.
Your Eagletarian asked Rosenhaus if he thinks the Eagles' thinking about the handling of such negotiations with key players has changed over the past several years.
"Yeah, there's no question," Rosenhaus said. "To me, the Eagles are one of the more aggressive ballclubs when it comes to retaining their players. Guys want to stay here. There's great stability here [with Reid]."
"I think so," Rosenhaus said, when asked if Reid's role was larger this time than it would have been in a similar negotiation several years back. "Certainly I can't speak for him, but in the multitude of deals we've negotiated with the Eagles, which are in the dozens since he's been the head coach, this is the most involved I've seen him."
Rosenhaus added that he "had a chance to visit with [team president] Joe Banner, I had a chance to visit with [chairman] Jeffrey Lurie. Both those guys were very involved, too. The meat and potatoes negotiations were with Howie, but this was a team approach."
"Howie is a straight shooter," Rosenhaus said. "He's aggressive. He wants to win. He's a pleasant guy to deal with, he's very honest. I like doing business with him ... I like dealing with all the teams in the league, but definitely, this is an unprecedented few months for me with one team. To do three deals of that magnitude is unique, for us."
"It does make it easier when you have a good relationship," said Rosenhaus, who also said his approach has evolved over the years. "The Eagles' regime went out of their way to let our clients know that we had a professional relationship with [the team]. Guys have been uneasy about some of the things that have happened in the past ... they let the players know they had no problem with us."
We were thinking there was no real deadline to get this done, but with all the offseason injuries cropping up -- Jason Peters, a case in point -- it turns out, next week's full-team minicamp was something of a deadline. Both sides wanted this deal done before McCoy stepped on the field, Rosenhaus said.
lol, so true bbewlrhc, some of the stuff people are saying is crazy. I mean I love Shady, but guess what, THEY ALREADY HAD HIM LAST YEAR WHEN THEY WENT 8-8. There isnt an "upgrade" from anything they had, and in fact with Peters out your going to have a weaker line both in run blocking and pass blocking. the guy Bell is a 7th round pick with multiple injuries that cant move like a TE like Peters, and is 30 or 40 pounds lighter, who only bench pressed 15 reps at the combine, less then some Wide reciecers, which was why he was a 7th round pick. Overall the offense is anything but WEAKER then last seaosn right now. I love that Shady got paid, but this ensures nothing besides one guy getting money. The team already had shady and squandered him last year with too much passing and weak defense. Hes my favorite player on offense but with no power back to split reps, no power run game, too much passing, an injury prone poor passing QB, and a weak run D, = NOT GONNA WIN MUCH OF ANYTHING. MORE GLORIOUS SUPER MEDIOCRITY COMING UP. They might start off 6-6 instead of 4-8. and go 10-6 instead of 8-8 and lose a horrible playoff game. AMAZING LETS HIRE REID FOR ANOTHER 5 YEARS.- As usual CharlieGarner25 chimes in with his stupid comments. Hey dopey, do you know that the Eagles finished 4th in the league in total offense and 8th in defense? And the reason for the losses last year was turnovers and poor play on defense. It seems to me the defense will greatly improve this year and hopefully Vick will play smarter. Now you can go back to yelling at your neighbors kids to stay off you lawn.
— ej610 
Rosensleeze and Pee Wee Roseman. Perfect together. And as payback, I hear Rosensleaze is taking Pee Wee up to Great Adventure for the day so he can ride the rides, eat some ice cream and get his picture taken with the characters. Pee wee loves ice cream.
Times yours.— kelprod2- Who is Drew Brees agent? We need a QB that can read defenses and pick them apart.— Yes_General
- tpizza, to answer your question earlier, I get the feeling its more of Howie's input. There is less and less of Banner nowadays. Reid always claimed he had personal decisions, but this year they got a few of whats looks to be quality linebackers (still need more), which goes against Reids philosophy. I think Laurie hasn'tliked the continued poor PR the team got in the Dawkins departure. His retiring of the number, and his gracious comments about Dawkins seems to be a realization by Laurie, that the team neesds to sign and keep their own players happy, not continually go out and sign others for bigger contracts, like a Steve Smith. And thereby Laurie has given Howie more authority to do things differently than they have. Remembers Lauries year end speech. He's looking for change, for the better.— watsonmr
- Hey Mighty One,
Look at your comment, how can anyone take it seiously? Terrible spelling, horrible grammar, no effort to proofread or provide people with an inteligent comment, either gramatically or substantvly. Everyone who reads it thinks you are much more stupid than then the man you are criticizing. Why don't you just STFU?— az_xplorer - Substantively perhaps?? Play nice if you can't spell. — tsump
- Heck yeah Andy wanted McCoy to be happy and IN CAMP. With Shady in tow his chances of retaining his job after next year is even geater. The Birds really have a strong team and a lot of mojo building...it is Superbowl or bust for these guys— tsump
- I kind of hate the idea that millions of dollars from the Eagles, and therefore from the fans, go to Rosenhaus.— burholme
- WMR, thanks. Have noticed much less of Banner but not sure how that relates to the draft. How the heck did they mine such a potentialy good crop this year when the two previous years were at best "questionble". There must have been some changes in player evaluation personnel behind the scenes, no? How else do you explain Howie going from rags to riches in one year?
Whatever the changes, I totally approve of resigning the best players. Improved moral alone will be a boost. It had to hurt to see all that money going to non-Eagles last year while the ones here got zilch. It's a tough enough business without the added jealousy factor. No different than anyone else who works hard for an employer only to see the spoils going to outsiders who haven't put in their time. Clear as day to me.— tpizza - tizza, one other thing. More imput from the coordinators. I believe last year Mudd wanted Watkins. This year, there is no doubt that Washburn wanted Cox. I read where he himself went and met with him, and really liked him. Just a thought that Howie said, lets see what these guys think. They've been cosching many years, lets give them some imput. This is I think where another change took place in the FO, which is good because we know Reid has problems drafting defense.— watsonmr
- It would be smart to let the asst. coaches have some input. They know what they want in a player. That may be good for the top pick but they actually had a VG draft all the way down with only the QB questionable...did Marty have input too? Yee Gods! Actually, now that I think about it they did address all phases of the game except safety. Thought they wouldmake a push for Y. Bell but would still like to see Clayton moved there, useless as a LB. Anywhooo, it all makes sense...iceberg avoided. Thanks.— tpizza
- Drafting Bryce Brown and FA Chris Polk I'm sure helped quicken negotiations.— ej610
- Excellent off-season and it's obvious that Roseman's skills as a negotiator are superior to Banner's in getting deals done quickly...his humility goes well with his confident approach to signing players as well...the importance of this switch cannot be overstated...Banner belongs behind the scenes,counting the money.
All the feel good stuff aside,the Birds are still going to need some luck and serious effort from all the talent they've accumulated this year...all depends on how bad they want it.— greenbloodVAEagle
