The team was given a chance to respond publicly to the Jalen Hurts article from ESPN
“Yeah, I have seen those reports,” Roseman said. “Bob [Lange] and our PR staff do a great job of showing us what we need to see. I would say that we have some faults. One of them is not – being direct and honest with our players and the conversations with our players. So for us, if we have any issue with any of our players, we talk to them directly.
“From my perspective, from Nick’s perspective, from Jeffrey’s perspective, we’re not hiding behind anything. We will talk to our players directly. I think that it’s unfair. It’s unfair to have these articles written, but I understand it’s also what sells at this point. So yeah, I think it’s unfortunate.”
#JimmySays: Roseman seemed to be concerned that the perception was that personnel currently with the team leaked information to ESPN, who published the article in question. It seemed to me like he wanted to make it known that if there are issues with players, the team will address them with players directly, as opposed to getting messages across via the media.
However, he did not dispute anything written in the article, and he did not say positive things about Hurts’ standing with the team, which was part of the question.
How does the Dontayvion Wicks acquisition impact A.J. Brown’s future with the team?
“He is a player that we’ve followed, obviously we’ve played Green Bay a bunch of times. You see his skillset, I mean he’s a physical explosive player at the top of routes he can play inside or out. So he’s the guy that we had our eye on here and then bringing in some of these Green Bay guys. Some of the hardest parts of our job is the cohab part, not understanding who the person is. And so when you get a chance to bring in some of these new coaches and then talk about some of the players and the skillset and then know how they are in the building, it makes you feel even more confident when you make the acquisition.
“And I think when you look at our receiver room over the last couple of years, obviously we lost Jahan. We’ve probably been fortunate about the depth that we haven’t really had to dive into and just studying the league and seeing how many teams can go pretty deep in the receiver room. That was one of the priorities going into this offseason is increasing the depth of quality of talent in the receiver room. So that really fit for us. Really excited to get Tay here and think he’s an arrow up guy.”
#JimmySays: In case you missed our review of Dontayvion Wicks’ skill set, you can find that here.
Also, I suppose he’s “Tay” now.
Unsurprisingly, Howie completely ignored the A.J. Brown aspect of the question, and, so, he was asked another version of that question later in the presser.
At that point, he finally addressed it, asking in return, “What do you think the odds are that I’m answering this question any different than I’ve answered anywhere else? Like really? Do you think that’s like 50 percent? Do you think that’s 75 percent? A.J. Brown is an Eagle.”
I mean, the Eagles actually HAVE answered that question differently throughout the offseason.
The first time Howie Roseman got asked about the possibility of trading A.J. Brown this offseason, way back in January, he said the following:
“It is hard to find great players in the NFL and A.J.’s a great player. I think from my perspective, that’s what we’re going out and looking for when we go out here in free agency and in the draft is trying to find great players who love football, and he’s that guy. I think that would be my answer.”
He was then asked multiple more times about trading Brown, both before and during the NFL Combine, and he basically gave the same answer that he gave in January.
But at the owners meetings, after extensive reporting that the Eagles have had serious talks with other teams about trading Brown, the repeated answer was, “He’s on the roster,” or “He’s an Eagle,” lol.
So, I guess they have settled on, “He’s an Eagle.”
When is the right time to draft a successor for an aging star offensive lineman?
“First it’s got to be based on the evaluation of the player that you’re picking because again, if you’re forcing something, you’re not really filling the need anyway. So when we drafted Cam Jurgens, I think that’s the easiest example to talk about the conversation a little bit was, ‘Is this guy a Pro Bowl center? Do we think this guy can come in and play at an incredibly high level?’ And so that’s even before you get into the question of, ‘Well, this guy may be back, we may take somebody in the second round who may not play for a year.’ And so it’s so hard to find elite players at any position that you certainly wouldn’t want to turn down the opportunity at an important position to get a player that you think has a chance to be a good starter, a Pro Bowl starter.
“So it starts there with evaluation of the player and having guys like Lane Johnson on this team and the elite level that he plays with, I think watching him and watching how he works, watching how he trains, watching how he dedicates his life to this game during the week, during the season. I mean that’s instrumental in understanding what it takes to be a great pro. And so there’s so much value in watching those guys instead of hearing about those guys.
“I said when we talked about Kelce at some point he was going to retire and then there’d be this legend of Jason Kelce, but Cam got to see it and he got to see what it took to be a Pro Bowl level player. There’s value like that as long as the player in and of himself is worthy of the selection of wherever you’re taking him.”
#JimmySays: Makes sense. It’s worth noting that this is a strong offensive tackle class in the first round this year.
How has it been different with Jeff Stoutland not being there in the evaluation of offensive lineman prospects?
“I miss Stout, obviously an incredible relationship and friendship with Stout. The conversations that we had I thought made me better. I’m sure Nick would agree. We have a lot of confidence in the people and staff that we have here as well. Certainly it’s different. I can hear his voice walking into my office. He did that for 14 years. So it’s something that I really admired, I respected, I loved our conversations and we’ll continue to have conversations because it’s a relationship that’ll be there for life with someone that you have incredible bonds with.
“I guess to answer your question, have a lot of confidence in the people that are here. Obviously our coaches are a big part of our process, but at the end of the day we have the responsibility to make those decisions and continue to have confidence that we’ll make good ones.”
#JimmySays: Roseman was also asked at one point if the profile of lineman the Eagles have typically targeted will change with Stoutland gone and a new offensive scheme in place, but Roseman said he would keep that answer “close to the vest.” My guess is that the traits they value won’t change much.
Is the safety position a priority heading into the draft?
“I think when you look at our roster, we’re going to go with 90 guys, maybe 91 with an international player. When we go to camp, we’re definitely not full at the safety position and so it’s got to fit the value at the time that we’re drafting to add that position. Again, the talent acquisition season doesn’t end right after the draft. We’ve made a lot of moves throughout the offseason, including May and July and August and September and October, but we’ll add players to that position just like other positions.”
#JimmySays: As Roseman noted when he spoke at the owners meetings in Phoenix, the Eagles are going to add to the safety position at some point between now and training camp.
I would just add that if you’re pining for the Eagles to select a safety you like in Round 1 of the draft, I wouldn’t get your hopes up.
For players who you don’t expect to fall to you in the draft, how do you prepare for that in the weeks leading up?
“Expect the worst. I think we go into this draft being very comfortable with having 23 guys we’re ready to take, we’re there ready and prepared for that. If something happens where somebody who’s higher on our board than 23rd is available, we’ll be ready for that. If there’s an opportunity that we think makes sense to move up based on the value of that player, we’ll move up. If we have multiple guys at our spot and there’s a trade that makes sense to move back, we’ll move back.”
#JimmySays: Expecting the worst and pivoting if unexpected opportunities arise is probably the right approach.
Are there 23 first round grades in this draft?
“Yeah, I’m not going to answer that question.”
#JimmySays: He shoots down versions of that question every year.
But also, spoiler: No way.
What’s left to do between now and the draft?
“Really, strategy meetings. We had our medical meeting yesterday, we’ll have a character meeting… We will still have conversations with college coaches this week to get some insight, go over scenarios, continue to look at the free agent list in the NFL to see if there are guys there that we think maybe are more appealing than undrafted options. Continue conversations with our coaches, continue conversations with our personnel staff. Yeah, we’re still working.”
#JimmySays: I would LOVE to sit in on the character meeting.
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