Howie Roseman addresses Jalen Hurts' Contract, Impending Free Agents
Jalen Hurts is Howie Roseman’s priority this offseason, and what happened with Carson Wentz and how that contract decision swirled down the drain in a hurry won’t have an impact on the general manager of the Eagles.
“I think each example is on its own, and you have to look at the individual player and that’s not to be critical of anyone we’ve given a contract to that hasn’t worked out, but I think when we talk again about Jalen, we’re talking about a guy we have tremendous confidence in and a guy we want to be here for a long time," said Roeman. "It’ll be a priority for us.”
Roseman and head coach Nick Sirianni spoke to the media for about a half-hour on Thursday afternoon.
"I think for us, during the season, we are doing everything for 2023 during the season, so this isn’t like hey, we’re a month behind and we’re starting from scratch," said the GM. "We’ve been working on this.
"...We have a scar on us (after the Super Bowl loss). It’s going to heal over time and we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure that we bring the city, our players, our staff what they deserve."
There’s no sense in rehashing the Wentz disaster, how things went south just a year after the former franchise quarterback was signed to a mega-contract. The story is well-known at this point.
While Hurts is Roseman’s priority, he knows he has several decisions to make on impending free agents.
It sounds like he would like to have certain veterans back, even though some of the younger players, such as defensive tackle Jordan Davis and offensive lineman Cam Jurgens, are ready to play.
Those veterans no doubt include center Jason Kelce and probably defensive linemen Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox, too. Perhaps even cornerback James Bradberry.
“Some of the players at those positions are some of the greatest players not only to play on our team this year but in this franchise and we’d love to have some of those guys back, but those (young) guys are ready,” said Roseman. “They were ready to play this year they just had great guys in front of them.”
Roseman said it would be impossible to keep all the free agents on this team.
He added that the flip side of that is there will be comp picks in the draft coming the team's way once some of them begin signing elsewhere.
“We have obviously a large number of free agents that we knew going in and I think when we looked at this team, and we always look at this team over not just this year but over a period of time, we knew we needed to get additional picks,” he said.
The Eagles have two first-round picks in April, though they do not have any selections in the fourth, fifth, or sixth round.
In 2024, they already have two extra picks from trade, including another second-round choice to go along with their own.
“That’s one of the reasons we made the trade last year to make sure we had picks going forward," Roseman said. “Even though we maybe don’t have the amount of picks this year we have a bunch of high picks. Then next year we’ll have a tremendous amount of picks.
“…Even if we signed a bunch of our guys, we’re going to have comp picks next year. I think we go into it with the understanding that it’s going to be impossible to keep every single person on this team, but we’re here to compete.
“A lot of times I heard this week, we’ll be back (to the Super Bowl). Just because we say it doesn’t mean it. We have to make that happen and I take great pride in trying to do my part.”
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglestoday.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
