Eagles' Exec Believes In Keeping The Draft Simple

Need is the worst talent evaluator in sports has become a cliche in the NFL's personnel world. The trick is being disciplined enough to realize that.

PHILADELPHIA — The goal for any NFL GM in the spring is to draft-proof their rosters so the urge to address a perceived need in the selection process is as muted as possible.

The adage around the league's personnel world is time-tested: need is the worst talent evaluator in sports.

Few NFL power brokers have been doing it as long as Eagles' GM Howie Roseman, who addressed that sentiment during his pre-draft availability earlier this week.

“I think what we try to do to the best our abilities is fill as many needs as we can through free agency so that we can be open to the best players in the draft,” Rosmeman said.

Being disciplined in that approach is easier said than done in a public-facing industry where every decision is often judged in a vacuum not in a holistic manner. It becomes even harder for perceived contenders like Roseman's Eagles.

On paper it looks like Philadelphia's biggest "needs" in the 2024 draft are off-ball linebacker, right guard, and cornerback, the latter depending on what you think of former All-Pro James Bradberry coming off a disappointing season.

However, the strengths of the 2024 draft class don't match up with the Eagles' biggest needs. It's doubtful that any off-ball LB will be selected in the first round and the Eagles' valuation of the position would prevent that scenario anyway. The interior of the offensive line is also not where you want to spend the No. 22 pick unless the player is deemed special and the two CBs at the top of the board -- Alabama's Terrion Arnold and Toledo's Quinyon Mitchell -- are likely going to be out of reach without trading up, something Roseman is never averse to doing if he sees value in the player.

"I like the trades. I like the trades," Roseman joked.

The Eagles' GM has used targeted first-round trade-ups in four of the past five years to secure Andre Dillard (2019), DeVonta Smith (2021), Jordan Davis (2022), and Jalen Carter (2023).

Only Smith matched up with need at the time and the Eagles would have steered in a different direction had cornerbacks Jaycee Horn or Patrick Surtain fell closer to them.

Roseman typically wants the best potential player he can get with the ammunition he has at his disposal. If that means offensive tackle to learn behind two All-Pro level talents like Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata, so be it.

“This is the only profession where you take someone out of college and you expect them to be great and if they’re not great you criticize them for not being great,” Roseman mused. “We believe strongly that we have to develop these players. They come in here with a skillset — they’re unfinished products — and we have a great coaching staff, a great player development staff and a great support staff to help develop these guys.”

Roseman did bristle at the idea of "redshirting" players, however.

"We don’t go and say, 'Hey, we are redshirting guys,'" Roseman said. "Even when we drafted Cam [Jurgens, as the heir apparent to Jason Kelce]. We are drafting these guys not with the intention, like these guys are never going to play, and obviously if you have a great starting lineup and they don’t play, well, that must mean there are good things happening, too.

"But we are not sitting there going, hey, we don’t expect any contributions. We still have to build depth on this team. We are still going to need players that are on the sideline on day one that are going to have to contribute for us to get to where we want to go."

Where the Eagles want to go back to is the Super Bowl and the shortest distance between two points in the NFL is the straight line of good players.

"Coach, do you want great players?" Roseman smiled at Nick Sirianni before the Eagles' mentor quickly responded "Yeah, we'll take them."

No NFL team has ever gone bankrupt by taking the best player available to them. Plenty have gone belly-up reaching for a need.

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