Eagles Search for Normalcy in Virtual Draft

Everything is different.

Instead of general manager Howie Roseman and VP of player personnel Andy Weidl meeting the media for their pre-draft press conference behind the lectern at the NovaCare Complex auditorium Thursday, the Eagles’ top brass was at their homes touching base through Zoom.

Roseman in his home office, hoping the kids didn’t barge in asking for the WiFi password again, and Weidl, much like me and some other reporters asking the questions, taking up his wife’s space for the foreseeable future.

Despite the upheaval, Roseman tried to stress what remains the same in a search for normalcy.

“As we get kind of closer to (the draft), we'll have the same people doing a lot of the same things that they have done,” said Roseman. “(Eagles Senior Director of College Scouting) Anthony Patch, really, for the last 20 years has been the guy on the phone telling us about the picks in front of us and then helping us figure out how much time left. He'll be doing that.

“The person who makes the trade calls will still be doing that with the league. We're going to try to keep it as normal as possible on the communication level as good as we can."

For Weidl, it’s his first opportunity at the top of the department, elevated in the wake of his good friend and mentor Joe Douglas leaving for the New York Jets’ general manager job after last year’s draft.

Without many top-30 visits or pro days, which were canceled very early in the process due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Weidl went old school by relying on his boots on the ground.

“Our scouts, they’re the first ones in (to schools) in the fall, they’re the ground troops,” said Weidl. “They go into the schools, they get the information on the players, and through the process, as we get to the All-Star games and we spend time with each player and we do individual interviews and sometimes we do group interviews and formal interviews at the Senior Bowl, 15 or 16 guys, and then we had the 45 at the Combine this year.”

From Weidl’s perspective, comfort comes in the knowledge of an even playing field.

“You just take all that information that you have. Everybody is in the same boat, and to credit, our staff has been aggressive and creative, the video chats and spending as much time with our players as we can and doing the best job possible,” he said. “We have done a really good job in getting to know these players, we feel.”

Getting to know players might be the biggest intangible in the draft and Roseman and Douglas were always big on their so-called “cohabitation matrix,” which encouraged everyone in the organization to put their two cents in if they had crossed paths with any prospects.

“Obviously with social distancing and everything going on, it's not the same way,” said Roseman.” Any time we can get valuable information from any of our players about guys they know, guys they’re a part of, it's important for us to listen to that because a lot of it, it's dating before you marry, so you don't really know anyone until they’re really in your building unless you’ve already had that experience with them.”

Today, though, the Eagles have no idea when they will get anyone in their building again - veterans players or draft picks.

And that’s where Zoom, Skype, Facetime and Microsoft teams enter into the equation.

“I'm sure that there are a lot of players in this draft who are sick and tired of seeing 215 numbers come up on their phone and to have these conversations,” joked Roseman. ”Guys are taking it as their responsibility, whether it's scouts, whether it's coaches, to make sure that they know everything about these guys, to make sure that they are getting their work done to know as much as they know if they had them in person.”

John McMullen covers the Eagles for SI.com and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every day on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, Every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio, and every weekday on ESPN 97.3 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

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