Are Roseman's 'Band-Aid' solutions enough for Eagles? | Marcus Hayes
THERE IS a difference between deserving a job and doing well after you've been given chance after chance. Based on his performance over the previous six years, as well as Jeffrey Lurie's short, 11-month "accountability" leash for Chip Kelly as coach/general manager, Howie Roseman should have been fired.
THERE IS a difference between deserving a job and doing well after you've been given chance after chance. Based on his performance over the previous six years, as well as Jeffrey Lurie's short, 11-month "accountability" leash for Chip Kelly as coach/general manager, Howie Roseman should have been fired.
When you admit you've made unwise "Band-Aid" personnel moves in the past, as Roseman did, and then you make similar moves a few weeks later, you're being hypocritical. Even if the latest "Band-Aid" moves are shrewd, you're being hypocritcal.
In this moment, though, previous measures of competence and the latest foot-in-mouth phrases by the Gold Stardard of the NFL matter little.
Howie Roseman, unaccountable hypocrite, over the past few weeks made several shrewd moves that will make the Eagles better in 2017.
Roseman combined patience with innovation and luck. The result is a roster markedly improved over the Agholor-Curry-Leodis McKelvin goulash that Roseman delivered to rookie head coach Doug Pederson and defensive coordinator Iago Schwartz.
Oops. Jim Schwartz.
Everything Eagles revolves around the progress and protection of second-year franchise quarterback Carson Wentz. Roseman has done well for the Wentz Wagon.
Roseman signed Alshon Jeffery and gave the Eagles a competent outside receiver for the first time in two years. Jeffery's one-year, $9.5 million contract contains incentives that could push it to $14 million, but meeting those incentives almost certainly will push Jeffery, 27, back onto the free-agent market. His presence is the definition of a "Band-Aid" solution, and Wentz might have been better served with a highly drafted receiver, but it wasn't only Wentz's arm that was sore after a rookie season spent throwing at cardboard cutouts. Jeffery's cameo is Wentz's reward.
Jeffery will be placed in tandem with Torrey Smith, 28. Smith once was a deep-threat star in Baltimore, but he flamed out the past two years in San Francisco, where he caught a total of 53 passes. Dorial Green-Beckham, the Titans' second-year, second-round bust for whom the Eagles traded last season, has caught a total of 68 passes. Nelson Agholor, the Eagles' first-round bust who was in DGB's draft class, caught 59. Then again, Agholor and DGB combined for nine touchdowns in two seasons. Smith had 11 TDs in 2014 alone. So, yes; Smith has potential to be much better than what they have been.
Jeffery and Smith attracted attention because they carried strong name recognition into a weak market, but Roseman also made two deals on defense to atone for his biggest mistakes in 2016.
Roseman signed Vinny Curry, a 280-pound, 4-3, defensive end, to an extension with $23 million in guaranteed money that makes Curry unmovable until after the 2018 season. Curry got 21/2 sacks in 2016. Roseman also failed to cut or trade Connor Barwin, a 265-pound, 3-4 left outside linebacker who was forced to play defensive end. Cutting or trading Barwin would have been a $1.5 million cap hit; instead, he made $6.75 million for five sacks, was a pushover against the run and kept Curry off the field.
Roseman finally cut Barwin, 30, on March 9; then, almost three weeks later, he signed 32-year-old Chris Long. Like Barwin, Long is an independent thinker; unlike Barwin, Long is a defensive end. Long weighs 275, can play either side of the line and effectively cost Roseman only $4.5 million for two years. True, Long had only four sacks for the Patriots last season, but he also helped them win a Super Bowl.
Roseman also added veteran cornerback Patrick Robinson for $1 million, which gave him a head start on rebuilding the corps of cornerbacks - a project Roseman has managed to mangle twice before. The Eagles obviously will take one or two corners in the first five rounds of this corner-heavy draft.
It will be up to those corners, as well as Long, Curry and Robinson, to get Wentz on the field as much as possible.
Perhaps most important for Wentz's long-term development, since it's hard to develop when in traction, Roseman ensured offensive-line depth. Guard/center Stefen Wisniewski returned for what effectively is $5 million over two years. Roseman essentially paid former first-round guard Chance Warmack $750,000 for a summer tryout that could no more than double Warmack's money. Both Isaac Seumalu and Halapoulivaati Vaitai showed enough promise as rookies to secure a second season. All five starters return, even if their starting spots are not guaranteed.
So, entering the draft, the Eagles have nine offensive linemen capable of protecting Wentz. That is excellent work.
That work is not finished. The team still needs a starting defensive tackle to pair with Fletcher Cox, the team's most important defensive player; Beau Allen and Destiny Vaeao aren't good enough. Ryan Mathews isn't dependable enough as a starting running back. The Eagles need depth at linebacker. A rookie receiver wouldn't hurt, either, since both Jeffery and Jordan Matthews might be gone in 2018 - even if that means spending a first-round pick on a receiver. For that matter, the only positions that would waste a first-round pick are quarterback and tight end.
Why not safety?
Because, as Rodney McLeod twice shamefully demonstrated, safeties should be willing to tackle.
Howie signed McLeod, too.
@inkstainedretch