Nostalgia Can't Get in Howie Roseman's Way
Nostalgia has a powerful, almost untraceable effect on everyone’s psyche.
It explains why you wanted to laugh at your father for saying Wilt Chamberlain was better than Michael Jordan and why you want to strangle your own son when he tells you LeBron James is a tick above the star of ESPN’s “The Last Dance.”
Talk about an invisible enemy - the three certainties of life should be expanded to include the close-mindedness of each generation.
The never-ending cycle of nostalgia is the feeling Eagles general manager Howie Roseman has to sift through every time a player his fan base loves needs a new contract or becomes available again.
Some decisions like DeSean Jackson last season are more difficult than others but the riptide of the sentiment is always real.
Roseman created a bit of a fail-safe by allowing older favorites like Connor Barwin and Darren Sproles to join the personnel department and kickstart their post-playing careers. Brent Celek was also brought back into the fold with a similar role.
When it’s a younger player sometimes it’s a yay for Philly Special participant Corey Clement or a nay for the triggerman on the same play, Trey Burton.
Sometimes finances make the decision for you like in the case of Nick Foles but in other instances, the back end of the equation understands their particular landscape and starts lobbying for a return in a public fashion.
That’s what is going on right now with both left tackle Jason Peters and running back LeSean McCoy, who are each trying to campaign for a return to Philadelphia.
The paths are divergent. Peters could still help and short-term is probably still a better option than Andre Dillard while McCoy is an aging redundancy to the emerging Miles Sanders and not likely the type of veteran fit head coach Doug Pederson would want as a complement or Roseman should be looking to add.
Jim Schwartz coined the term start-up costs a few years ago when asked by SI.com among the benefits of struggling through the hiccups of young players and then reaping the benefits on the back end.
That should be the mindset when it comes to Dillard, the team’s 2019 first-round pick, no matter the doubts. Ironically, the best example of this is Sanders, who was the organization’s second-round pick a year ago.
There has been a bit of revisionist history surrounding Sanders alongside the hype that has unfairly labeled him as the next Christian McCaffrey.
The truth is Sanders wasn’t very good early in his rookie season when he was running tentatively and often didn’t hit his landmarks in the passing game. Only when he took a step back and got an opportunity to take a deep breath when the Eagles turned toward veteran Jordan Howard did things begin to click for Sanders.
And when Howard went down to a shoulder injury, Sanders stepped back in and took off in December, something that probably doesn’t happen unless those start-up costs are invested.
When you take the names off any personnel equation and examine the pros and cons (things like age, salary, skill set, role, etc.) the answer is almost always as crystal clear as a Col. Nathan Jessup courtroom explanation.
Nostalgia, on the other hand, is the enemy of logic.
One of Roseman’s stated themes to this offseason was getting younger and the Eagles' GM should have the courage to follow his own convictions when it comes to players like Peters and McCoy.
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, and every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
