Lurie finally admits: It's Roseman's show

BOCA RATON, Fla. - It took three months, but Jeffrey Lurie finally acknowledged that Howie Roseman is in charge of Eagles personnel.

Why the Eagles owner didn't say so when he was first asked upon Chip Kelly's firing in late December, and then again several weeks later after he hired Doug Pederson as head coach, is up for interpretation. The most likely explanation was fear of backlash.

Roseman, after all, had as much to do with the organization's slide into mediocrity as anyone. But Lurie, emboldened by a dizzying two months of moves that have generally been received positively by the public, said Tuesday at the NFL meetings that the plan all along was for Roseman to lead the Eagles in free agency and the draft.

Two months earlier, Lurie acted as if ordering food delivery during the draft would be the most Roseman would do this offseason. He sidestepped a bevy of questions about Roseman's role and how the executive vice president of football operations would be held accountable.

Asked again Tuesday during a morning break in meetings if Roseman would be held responsible, Lurie didn't mince words this time.

"Yes, without question," he said.

The news created hardly a trickle on social media. No. 1, it was already blatantly clear that Roseman had full control. It was clear on the day Lurie fired Kelly and announced that Roseman would be on the three-man search committee for the next coach, although some wanted to hear it from the owner's mouth.

And No. 2, by extending contracts for five of the Eagles' own players, ridding the roster and salary cap of DeMarco Murray and Byron Maxwell, and adding free-agent pieces in workmanlike fashion, Roseman has had, at least on paper, an offseason that many view as a step back in the right direction.

"What Howie has been able to do is pretty outstanding in terms of a league that values salary-cap space and draft choices," Lurie said. "To be able to make those trades, align our resources the way we preferred . . . He's had a great plan."

But the best laid plans, as Lurie surely knows after 21 years as Eagles owner, often go awry. While he may have escaped harsh criticism with a public relations slight of hand, the advice he took could backfire, especially in light of the way he has increasingly been viewed.

Lurie certainly hasn't done everything right during his Lombardi Trophy-less tenure, but most thoughtful observers considered him an introspective, patient and forward-thinking owner. But since 2012, he has fired two coaches, nudged longtime team president Joe Banner out, and demoted and reinstated Roseman.

Even Daniel Snyder hasn't had a four-year span as turbulent.

A year ago at the owners meetings, Lurie spoke glowingly of Kelly, and in explaining his decision to give the coach final say, said the impetus was to go from "good to great." A year later, he said he wanted to let Kelly "be responsible for all the decisions he wanted to inject and make."

It could be argued that Lurie set Kelly up to fail by keeping Roseman in the building. It hindered the search for a personnel head because many in the league viewed the Eagles front office as a contentious one, and it suggested that Lurie wasn't all-in on Kelly.

Clearly, he wasn't. He fired him after a one-year experiment, despite 26 wins in three seasons. Roseman, meanwhile, spent the year in exile searching the globe for "state of the art decision making" just in case (wink-wink) Kelly imploded.

"The expense of a lesson is just time, it's not money," Lurie said. "We're all about wanting to win big."

But rather than wipe the slate clean after the quick hook and hire a new general manager who would help pick the next coach, Lurie went backward. He restored Roseman and hired an Andy Reid protégé as next coach. Roseman may have benefited from his year off, and Pederson may replicate Reid, but it's unlikely that doing the same over again will net a different result.

Lurie has never cleaned house. Parity in the NFL makes it possible for many teams to turn their fortunes around in a year, but are the Eagles really that much closer to winning an elusive title after free agency? A number of the moves Roseman made this offseason, specifically re-signing quarterback Sam Bradford, indicate that the Eagles want to win now.

"We expect to compete for the division title this season," Lurie said, "but at the same time . . . it's maximizing short term, maximizing mid term, and maximizing long term."

Roseman followed the Banner blueprint by extending the contracts of young, homegrown core players, but he spent freely in free agency. He probably can't afford for the franchise to regress after decisions he spearheaded ultimately led Kelly to want more power.

There shouldn't have been ambiguity about who made those choices, but there is zero doubt now. Pederson may have some sway at quarterback, and defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is giving his preferences, but Roseman is picking the players.

The personnel staff, and the eventual "personnel head" hire, will also be his responsibility. Lurie said in January that he couldn't define Roseman's role because the team was conducting the search for the personnel head, but the Eagles suspended the search until after the draft a few short weeks later.

He says now that "the plan was always sometime in May to make that final decision."

Whatever.

They were never going to get someone with enough clout to usurp Roseman. They won't in May, either. It's Roseman's show, for better of worse. That's the way Lurie wants it.

It's a shame he just didn't say so from the start.

jmclane@phillynews.com

@Jeff_McLane