Roseman has remade Eagles' scouting staff to suit his needs

CICERO, a childhood buddy of mine from the 'hood in Rome, once said that any man may make a mistake, but only a fool continues in it.

While some of his critics might disagree, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman is not a fool.

He'll be the first to admit that one of the main reasons why the Eagles failed to make the playoffs the last two seasons, and why Andy Reid's current mailing address is in Tornado Alley rather than still on the Main Line, is because of the organization's poor decisions in the 2010 and 2011 drafts and in '11 free agency.

While Roseman, who was promoted to GM in January 2010, was given a pass for those drafts by his boss, Jeff Lurie - "The mistakes that were made have little or nothing to do with Howie's evaluations," Lurie said - Roseman knew changes had to be made or he would soon find himself looking for new employment, just like Reid.

Over the last 18 months, he has almost completely remade his scouting staff. Only five scouts who were with the Eagles following the '11 season are still with the team: director of college scouting Anthony Patch, area scouts Andy Speyer (Southwest), Alan Wolking (Southeast) and Mike Bradway (East), and college scouting coordinator Brad Obee.

Yesterday, the Eagles announced the hiring of three new scouts: Michael Davis (Midwest), Trey Brown (West Coast) and Louis Clark (pro).

Three others were promoted. Ed Marynowitz, who spent last year as the Eagles' assistant director of pro scouting, was named assistant director of player personnel.

Wolking will move from the Midwest to the Southeast. Bradway, formerly the team's Northeast area scout, had his duties expanded to include the Eastern region.

Davis had been the Jets' assistant director of college scouting for the last 5 years. Brown spent the last 3 years as a scout with the Patriots. Clark was the director of pro personnel for Jacksonville.

Roseman, at 37 the youngest GM in the NFL, has surrounded himself with experienced talent evaluators. Last year, he brought in two longtime NFL personnel men - Rick Mueller and Tom Donahoe - as scouting advisers.

Mueller spent 8 years as the New Orleans Saints' personnel chief. Donahoe was the longtime personnel boss for the Steelers and general manager of the Bills.

Earlier this year, Roseman hired Tom Gamble as the team's vice president of player personnel to replace Ryan Grigson, who left after the 2011 season to become the GM of the Colts.

Gamble, whose father Harry was the team's president during the Norman Braman regime, had been the player personnel director for the 49ers.

"I'm extremely excited about our staff," Roseman said. "It takes a while to get a group together and figure it out. But I think we finally have the right mix. A dynamic of good evaluators and good people who bring a lot to the table. They all want to be part of something. They want to help build our team to where it needs to get."

It's hardly uncommon for a new general manager/player personnel boss to shake up the scouting staff.

Tom Modrak did it when he arrived in Philadelphia in 1998. Tom Heckert did it when he replaced Modrak in 2001. And now, Roseman has reshaped his staff.

What is a bit uncommon, though, is for a young GM such as Roseman to be willing to bring in experienced talent evaluators such as Donahoe, Gamble and Mueller.

"You have to give him a lot of credit for that, because there are a lot of young guys who wouldn't do that," Donahoe said. "They'd feel threatened by it. They would feel a little bit intimidated by it.

"But Howie's only interested in getting the best group of scouts that he can. He values our opinion. We don't always agree, but that's part of scouting."

Said Roseman: "We need to find as many good players as possible. The more people we have who have insight, experience and a feel for it, the better the discussions are, the better the evaluations are, and the better your drafts and free agencies become."

Roseman said he doesn't want yes men on his scouting staff. He wants people who will "shoot you straight and give you their honest opinion."

"With all of these guys, they're not going to just say something to make sure everybody gets along," he said. "They're going to say what they really think.

"It's hard to be really good at anything if you don't have people who are seeing different perspectives. If you're seeing and thinking the same thing, there's probably something that you're missing."

Patch, who was promoted by Roseman to director of college scouting in January 2012, is only 35, but has been with the Eagles for 11 years. He started out as college scouting coordinator, which is the scouting equivalent of the mail room.

He didn't even have his own desk when Heckert hired him. He pretty much lived in the office. He said Andy Reid used to tell him, "Go home and make babies."

He followed Reid's advice. He has three daughters now and is No. 3 on the Eagles' personnel food chain, just below Roseman and Gamble.

He said Gamble, Donahoe and Mueller have brought a lot to the table with their experience and expertise.

"Howie wants guys who are pros and have a good eye for talent and are not afraid to speak their minds and will stick to their opinions," Patch said.

"A guy like [Donahoe], he's been the head of personnel at two different places and has come in with no ego. Tommy G [Gamble], the same thing."

When Donahoe agreed to join the Eagles as a senior scouting adviser last May, he said he wanted to take it year by year.

He scouted about two dozen schools in the East and Midwest and cross-checked the top 150 players. He enjoyed the experience so much, he has signed on for another year.

"Howie's been great to work with," he said. "He listens. He values your input. He asks a lot of questions about the guys you've looked at.

"The draft process was really good. We spent a lot of time on it. We watched a lot of tape together as a staff. Everybody had a chance to put their two cents in. Ultimately, Howie and Chip [Kelly] are making the final decisions. But you feel good about your job when you know people are at least giving you a chance to get up on the table for some guys."

Said Gamble: "Our draft discussions were as good as I've ever been around. The process, the day-to-day, the meetings, the dialogue, the banter . . . I thought it was really good."

They say you can't accurately determine the success or failure of a draft until 3 years later. Perhaps the same can be said of the people who run those drafts.

"Finally getting our definitions of what we're looking for, getting our grading scale in place, speaking the same language, having people that we think can be here together and be part of the present and future, that's a huge plus for us," Roseman said.

"Just the comfort level with all of the people around is incredibly exciting for me to have that, as opposed to a year from now, having to make this change, or 2 years from now, having to make that change."

Today on PhillyDailyNews.com: A story on Clifton Geathers, part of the big, new Eagles' defense.

On Twitter: @Pdomo

Blog: eagletarian.com