Eagles’ GM: ‘The Chiefs Are In My Head’

PHILADELPHIA - Many around the NFL consider the Eagles’ Howie Roseman to be the best of the best when it comes to the league’s football executives.

With his team on the cusp of a second Super Bowl in three years and No. 3 over the past eight seasons, the Eagles’ GM believes titles like that are earned.

Ric Flair rules apply to Roseman: “To be the man, you have to beat the man.”

The star-studded roster Roseman has assembled has earned an opportunity to do exactly that at the end of this week in New Orleans when they attempt to take down Kansas City and try to halt the 17-2 Chiefs from becoming the first franchise to win three consecutive Lombardi Trophies.

The Chiefs started this run by outlasting Roseman’s Eagles in Super Bowl LVII, 38-35, in Glendale, AZ.

This time the feel around the league is that Roseman’s roster is better but Kansas City has the cheat code of the best quarterback/coach tandem in the game with Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid, the latter being Roseman’s former mentor in Philadelphia.

“They’re the best of the best. The best of the best,” Roseman admitted to a small group of reporters before the 17-3 Eagles arrived in New Orleans on Sunday.

In some ways, Roseman is chasing his own dragon.

“So, I think it’s multipronged,” the Eagles' GM explained when asked if he builds his teams with the idea of beating an out-of-conference foe. “First, you gotta think about your division, then you gotta think about your conference, then you gotta think about how you’re winning a world championship.”

That said, expectations are always high in Philadelphia, something tied to how Roseman manipulates his assets to seize opportunities that other organizations may not even consider.

Roseman has always compared himself and his team with the best.

“I used to, before everything got automated, have the final four teams in my office,” said Roseman. “And just used to look and go, ‘How do we compare there? How do we compare there?’”

And now?

“Now I think it’s, like, in my head. The Chiefs are in my head,” the two-time Executive of the Year admitted. “But I think that you have to think about how to beat the best.

“It’s hard, it’s really hard, as you’re putting something together.”

It’s also awkward for Roseman because of his relationship with Reid, the Chiefs’ future Hall of Fame coach who built the foundation of his career in Philadelphia for 13 years starting in 1999.

Nearly everything the Eagles do today as one of the most well-regarded organizations in the NFL can be traced back to Reid’s fingerprints on the franchise, including the development of Roseman as an executive.

“It’s a strange deal because I wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t for coach Reid,” said Roseman. “… Without the two weeks here [in the lead-up to the Super Bowl], we could talk and I could ask him anything and he’ll give me his honest opinion and we’ll talk honestly about it.”

All these years later Reid is still willing to help except for the two weeks before Super Bowls LVII and LIX.

“I think that when I’m talking to him, I’m not necessarily thinking, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about this move to try to beat you finally in a Super Bowl,’” Roseman said. “But obviously, they’re the standard.”

For Roseman, it's time to beat the standard.

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