Roseman’s office moved; Still no McCoy contract talks
Some news and notes on the Eagles …
ROSEMAN'S OFFICE MOVED
Howie Roseman's office was recently moved from the football operations end of the NovaCare Complex to the business side, sources said, another indication of the former Eagles general manager's lessening involvement with decisions related to the team.
Roseman's old office was two doors down from coach Chip Kelly. He had the same space when Andy Reid was previously head coach. Roseman, whose new title is Executive Vice President of Football Operations, now occupies a former conference room that is near Ari Roitman, Senior Vice President of Business.
The Eagles had no comment.
The second floor of the Eagles training facility is split. Offices for the coaching staff and members of the personnel department are to the left at the top of central staircase and offices for business personnel -- team president Don Smolenski, for instance -- are to the right.
The Eagles currently don't have a GM after owner Jeffrey Lurie gave Kelly full control over football operations two months ago.
Ed Marynowitz, who was recently promoted to vice president of player personnel and is now seen as Kelly's second-in-command in evaluating players, was given a larger office, although it was unclear he moved into Roseman's old office.
Alec Halaby, who still has the title of special assistant to the GM even though there isn't one, was also moved to the business side. The Harvard-educated Halaby included statistical analysis into some of his previous work for Roseman. He attended both the Senior Bowl and the NFL combine this offseason, but his role under the new front office structure was ambiguous.
ROSEMAN ON TRADING UP
Roseman was a speaker at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston on Saturday and made some interesting comments when asked about the historic value of trading up in the draft.
"When you're looking at trading up, at some point, your board drops off so dramatically in terms of how you evaluate that player," Roseman said. "But the history of trading up for one player, when you look at those trades, isn't good for the team trading up and putting a lot of resources into it."
Here are Roseman's full comments and others he made on subjects such as free agency.
His public stance on trading up has drawn interest because many believe that Kelly will do whatever it takes to get Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota. It will obviously require surrendering significantly resources – multiple draft picks and perhaps a high-profile player or two – to get Mariota.
The Eagles have the 20th overall pick in the first round and Mariota isn't likely to get past the first five selections.
Some have interpreted Roseman's statements as ones that would place him contrary to Kelly and potentially position him in case the coach would mortgage future picks for the quarterback.
The reading here is that Roseman, who is still technically in charge of the salary cap and contract negotiations, was doing Kelly's bidding and trying to slow the pervading belief that the Eagles will try their hardest to get Mariota.
Roseman has never been one to openly discuss his philosophies and to blatantly come out against packaging multiple picks to move up in the first round has smokescreen written all over it.
When Roseman was GM, the Eagles moved up in the first round for linebacker Brandon Graham in 2010 and defensive end Fletcher Cox in 2012. They gave up far less than they would likely have to for Mariota, but it took their first round pick and two third rounders to move up 11 spots for Graham and their first rounder, a fourth and sixth to jump three spots for Cox.
As much as it may appear that Kelly wants Mariota – he hasn't publicly spoken at length about the Eagles since the end of the season – it may still prove impossible to get a prospect that has enough upside to attract one of the teams selecting before the Eagles.
MCCOY CONTRACT TALKS
The Eagles have not approached running back LeSean McCoy about restructuring his contract despite a recent report to the contrary, two sources close to the situation told The Inquirer.
McCoy's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, later confirmed to ProFootballTalk.com that there had been no discussions yet about reworking his client's deal.
That doesn't mean the Eagles won't eventually come to McCoy. He has said that he would be willing to restructure his deal, but he was also emphatic that he wouldn't take a pay cut. McCoy is slated to earn $10.25 million this season and count $11.95 million against the salary cap.
But the Eagles aren't pressed to try and get McCoy's cap number down. They will have plenty of cap space by the start of the new league year on March 10 when teams are required to be under the projected $143 million cap figure.
There has also been increasing speculation that McCoy would be a trade chip in the attempt to move up for Mariota. It would be unwise to rule out any possibility at this point.
Each of the first four teams in the draft – the Bucs, Titans, Jaguars and Raiders – is without a franchise tailback. But the Bucs and Titans have a greater need at quarterback and passing on either Mariota or Jameis Winston may be difficult.
The Eagles would also be hard pressed to replace McCoy, one of the few elite running backs in the league. His production dropped in 2014, but McCoy will be only 27 in July and Kelly's offense sputtered whenever the ground game was stagnant.