Howie Roseman Reveals Seminal Moment in Offseason Roster Construction
PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles had just landed from Tampa Bay, the sting of losing in the playoffs to Tampa Bay still burning.
Howie Roseman wasted little time in retreating to his home, not even waiting for the defroster to melt the frost that had collected on his car’s windshield during their trip to Florida's Gulf Coast.
“Most normal people wait for the defroster and I go like this (motioning that he wiped a spot clear so he could see) and drive like this (he hunched over with one hand on wheel),” said Roseman.
Five minutes from his house, Roseman got a call from head coach Nick Sirianni.
Before their conversation got very far, Roseman heard Sirianni call out, “Zech…I’ll call you back.”
A half-hour later, the GM and coach reconnected.
Sirianni told Roseman that then-rookie CB Zech McPhearson’s car had broken down and he waited with him for the tow truck.
That was a seminal moment for the GM.
“When I think about that, I felt like we may have something here with our culture and now I have to go do my job and I have to make sure we get better,” the GM said on Tuesday evening, shortly after trimming the roster to the mandated 53 players.
Roseman knew what the team needed to improve upon and got to work.
He signed pass rusher Haason Reddick followed by linebacker Kyzir White.
He traded for WR A.J. Brown and signed another WR, Zach Pascal.
He drafted DT Jordan Davis and LB Nakobe Dean.
He signed CB James Bradberry.
On Tuesday morning, he traded for safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson.
“We had a long list of things we wanted to get better on,” said Roseman. “We still have things we want to get better on. I feel better about where we are, but again, we haven’t won a game.
"A lot of things are going to happen, it’s a long season and we have to work harder than everyone and it has to start here (Wednesday).”
Sirianni’s take from that story?
He admonished Roseman for not waiting for his defroster to melt away all the condensation on the windshield.
“We have different fundamentals when it comes to scraping our cars apparently,” the coach joked. “He scrapes a little part and then drives home…I wait. I don’t get out at all. I wait until it’s all melted. I put it on high and it’s all melted. That’s the Jamestown, New York, in me.”
If things break right, there’s a chance Roseman could pick up his second executive of the year award, a trophy that can sit next to the one he won in 2017 when the roster he built won a Super Bowl.
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.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
