Inside the Disagreement Between Howie Roseman and Tom Donahoe
PHILADELPHIA - The video went viral quickly.
In the moments after the Eagles dropped down three spots to select Milton Williams in the third round of the NFL Draft Friday night, there were fist-bumps aplenty with defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon particularly excited about adding the Louisiana three-technique defensive tackle.
When GM Howie Roseman got to the end of the makeshift line, however, you got a less-than-enthusiastic final fist bump from senior football advisor Tom Donahoe.
Add that to a pre-draft narrative that painted the Eagles' brain trust as somewhat dysfunctional to begin with and the conspiracy theorists had the Zapruder Film they needed.
To most of the amateur lip-readers, it seemed like Donahoe was bristling about a cornerback, certainly a need for Philadelphia. More so, a slot corner with decent potential in Central Florida's Aaron Robinson came off the board at No. 71 when the New York Giants traded up five spots to get ahead of the Eagles to land Robinson.
The real apple of Donahoe's eye, however, was North Carolina State nose tackle Alim McNeil, who was selected by Detroit in the slot before the Eagles selected Williams.
Roseman jumped on the Eagles' flagship radio station, 94WIP, on Tuesday and offered transparency to the situation.
“Let me tell you the story about what happened there because I think you guys deserve it,” said Roseman. “I’ll give you some insight into it. We’re at pick [No. 70], we have two guys standing out on our board, two defensive linemen [McNeil and Williams]. And they’re different flavors. One is a three-technique, one is more of a nose tackle. And so obviously when you have different flavors, everyone likes a different flavor."
From there Carolina was trying to move up to get BYU offensive tackle Brady Christensen, offering a sixth-round pick to move up the three spots.
Roseman, with two defensive linemen on the board with similar grades, was interested but needed one assurance from Panthers GM Scott Fitterer.
"So Carolina calls and they’re picking two picks behind us and Scott Fitterer says, ‘Hey Howie, you want to drop down two picks for our top of the sixth-round pick?’ I said, ‘You gotta tell me offense-defense.’ He said, ‘I’m taking an offensive player.’ So we know we’re getting one of these two guys [McNeil or Williams]," Roseman explained.
After the Panthers pick, the Giants selected Robinson and the Lions followed with McNeil before the Eagles got their man in the athletic Williams, he of the great spider graph.
"When we talked to our coaches about their fit and their role, we are excited about these two guys," Roseman said of McNeil and Williams. "And so one of them goes and then we take Milton Williams. I didn’t even know where the cameras were, to be honest.”
The camera captured both the good and bad reactions to the pick.
Gannon was ecstatic, clapping his hands repeatedly.
Donahoe, on the other side of the room, not so much.
For what it's worth, Roseman and Donahoe, a former two-time GM in the NFL, have always had a good relationship. Roseman brought Donahoe into Philadelphia and the veteran personnel man actually led the department in the short window between Chip Kelly and Joe Douglas.
"Tom’s been here for a long time, we’ve been together for 10 years, extremely close relationship," the GM said. "It’s OK to have tough conversations and Tom and I have had a lot of them in 10 years and that’s why you want people around you who aren’t going to just tell you everything you’re doing is OK.
"They’re going to give you their perspective and we have that. I think [VP of player personnel] Andy [Weidl] said it really right after the second day when he said our job is to make sure we’re fulfilling the vision of the head coach."
And by extension Gannon, who did seem generally excited to get Williams judging by his own response on the much-hyped video.
In the end, Roseman believes the process worked even if the fans got a brief glimpse into how the sausage gets made.
“Discussion and debate and having these conversations, it’s OK,” Roseman said. “You’d rather have that. You’d rather have that passion."
As a postscript to all of this. Before Roseman's Tuesday morning interview, SI.com's Eagle Maven reached out to a league source about potential changes in the Eagles' personnel department post-draft.
"Not much. Maybe a promotion. Maybe a retirement."
Already the Panthers' requested to interview Weidl's right-hand man, Ian Cunningham, for their assistant GM job under Fitterer. There aren't a lot of names that would fit the latter other than Donahoe.
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s EagleMaven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
