Eagles Howie Roseman Believes Draft Picks Worth Giving Up For "Difference Makers"

The Philadelphia Eagles watched 109 players get taken between the time they selected Markell Bell until taking Cole Payton after trading draft capital for what they hope will be impact players.

Eagles GM Howie Roseman (left) and head coach Nick Sirianni address the media after Day 2 of the 2026 NFL Draft | Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

PHILADELPHIA – They picked Markell Bell with the 68th pick overall in the draft on Friday night, then waited, waited, and waited some more.  

They were supposed to pick at No. 98, near the end of that night’s third round, but that selection got sent to the Vikings for pass rusher Jonathan Greenard. They were supposed to choose two prospects in the fourth round – at Nos. 114 and 137 – but both picks got shipped to Dallas to move up for receiver Makai Lemon.

Those deals meant the Eagles had to bide their time waiting until they were on the clock again with the 178th overall pick. In that time, from 68 to 178, 109 players were taken.

“It was long,” said general manager Howie Roseman. “I think it was daunting when (assistant GM) Jon Ferrari is in the back of the room. ...After we picked at 68, he goes, ‘We get the 110th next player,’ and it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s gonna be a long time.’”

Not The First Time Howie Roseman Played The Waiting Game

Apr 28, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Carson Wentz (North Dakota State) with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after being selected by the Philadelphia Eagles as the number one overall pick in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft at Auditorium Theatre. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Roseman has been through long droughts between picks in previous drafts.

In 2016, the Eagles took quarterback Carson Wentz second overall, but because of the draft capital it took to move up for him, they weren’t on the clock again until the third round, with the 79th overall selection. That’s when they took offensive lineman Isaac Seumalo.

In addition to Wentz and Seumalo, that draft produced several players who helped the Eagles win the Super Bowl the following year, including running back Wendell Smallwood, who was the next player taken after Seumalo by the Eagles, at pick 153 overall, offensive tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai, 11 picks after Smallwood, and cornerback Jalen Mills in the seventh round.

So, the Eagles went from taking offensive tackle Bell at 68 to selecting quarterback Cole Payton at 178 in this year’s draft. The wait between those picks when the draft began again at noon on Saturday was nearly four hours.

The in-between was, well, somewhat agonizing for Roseman though he was comfortable in the decisions he made to send picks away to get Lemon and Greenard.

"I think when we look at it from a big picture perspective, something that I said was, yeah, it hurt for those hours," said the GM. "I don’t know what those hours were, from (Friday) night until we picked (Saturday), it didn’t feel great. ...You’re at those picks and you’re going, ‘This is who I’d pick, that guy’s pretty good, I’d like that, I’d be excited about that,’ but we can’t lose sight of the guys we brought in with those picks, and we expect those guys that we traded up for, that we traded for to make a big difference on our football team.

“And that’s what we’re looking for. We’re looking for difference makers, and we feel like we got the opportunity to get them at cost. For sure, it wasn’t cheap to get them, but we believe it’ll be worth it.”