Howie Roseman Knows It's Time to Make Some BIG Changes

Albert, this was a, uh, interesting early week already in the NFL, specifically if you're the fan of one team, the Philadelphia Eagles, and maybe they wouldn't call it interesting.

Lane Johnson, maybe the greatest, one of the three greatest right tackles in the history of the sport, walks away.

Um, kudos to my friend Joey Epstein who wrote about this and, uh, figured out the splits of games that the Eagles won with Lane Johnson.

It was like 66% of them, and the games that they won without Lane Johnson, only about 39% of them.

So it's, it's, it's incredible.

And the Jalen Hurts pressure splits with and without, uh, Lane Johnson.

There are some seasons where it's 10% difference, um, in average pressure, uh, that Jalen Hurts has seen.

Lane is a titan of the game.

I give him so much credit for trying to gut out another season like this, but You gotta know when it's time to walk away.

I was glad to see Joe Thomas talking about that a little bit where your body knows, and I, I think, I mean, Lane's played through countless injuries, brought this team to Super Bowls.

I mean, it's , it's time.

Yeah, I, like, and that's something he's obviously considered for a little while now, and I mean, I, it was funny, I was doing, I did an event with, um, you know, David Andrews and Brian Hoyer up here, who both played 10 years in the league, and I, the way I introduced them was, until I covered the league, I didn't really, it's one of the things I didn't really understand like what an unbelievable accomplishment it is to make it, make it a decade, you know, cause like, before the draft every year, we talk about these guys like, oh yeah, like that position is taken care of for the next 10 to 15 years.

It's like, no, it's not.

Like, that is an incredibly long time to be playing professional football, you know.

So I always think like getting to a decade is unbelievable.

Let alone 14 years, let alone doing it as an offensive lineman, um, you know, he's just, I, I, I hate to call anybody a surefire Hall of Famer that's not like Jerry Rice or Tom Brady or Joe Montana or whatever, but like, uh, it seems like he's got a better than good shot of getting in and, uh, yeah, I mean, like for a team that really built its foundation and won 2 Super Bowls behind, you know, a dominant offensive line, like, He was the constant, right?

Like he was the constant through those three Super Bowls, um, you know, so, and I think the only one, am I, am I wrong about that?

Because Jason Peters didn't make it to the second one, so it would have been Lane, right?

He would have been because Jason Kelsey retired right before the last Super Bowl championship, so he wasn't there, right?

So I think he was the only constant, which, you know, is another feather in his cap, and Brandon Graham, that cap's got a lot, lots of feathers, Brandon Graham.

Well, I'm saying the only offensive lineman, offensively, the only offensive lineman, yeah, yeah, um, I mean, Fletcher Cox would have been on both of them too, on, on, on all three Super Bowl teams, the two winners also, I think, right.

I'm not sure if he retired before the 3rd 1.

Anyway, um, point taken that Lane is, Lane's a statue outside the stadium guy, right?

I mean, and If you've, it's hard, right, because this is the issue with building.

He retired right before.

I thought he retired right before, um, so he and Jason Kelsey both retired.

This is the issue with statues.

If you build a statue, then there's the ultimate what about this guy if you don't build him a statue.

And if Doug Peterson has a statue, even though it's technically a Nick Foles statue, but if Doug Peterson and Nick Foles have a statue.

You gotta give Lane Johnson.

Well, that's the problem with retiring numbers too, right?

Yeah, and like.

So this is always a funny one to me because I like being here.

The Patriots before they got really good were pretty liberal about retiring numbers.

Do you wanna hear the list of Patriots who have their numbers retired?

Sure.

Tom Brady, right, but he's the only one from the championship era, right?

Gino Capelletti.

Who like was like a franchise icon at the very beginning, deserve it.

Mike Haynes, Hall of Famer, deserve it.

Steve Nelson, really good guy, good linebacker, but if good guy is the first descriptor, not always what you want to hear.

Yeah, John Hannah, Hall of Famer, I guess, you know, that would probably be deserved.

Bruce Armstrong, who was like the left tackle when I was growing up, Jimmy Lee Hunt, and Bob D.

So like they have 8 retired numbers and they're in this awkward spot now.

It's like, what do you do?

Do you un-retire numbers?

Like, do you, you know what I mean?

Like it's just, and I think this is why in football it's like really hard to retire numbers and like that's the statue thing too is like, you know, like the, is it, is it the Philly specialist, the statue, right in Philly?

Yeah, yeah, them discussing the Philly statue, yeah, the Philly, OK, OK, yeah.

So like that's the problem is the precedent that it sets going forward, you know what I mean?

Like for, like, so, like if you retire somebody's number , you start retiring numbers when you're not very good, like New England did, then it becomes a real problem when you are really good.

And like when you win your first Super Bowl and you want to commemorate it that way, the problem becomes, well, if you have future Super Bowl champions, you have to do it.

You know what I mean?

But that's why I like Alabama, Alabama is one that I kind of, I kind of like their statue situation because it's just, it's national championship winning coaches, right?

So like that's the bar, and I think that's fair.

The, um, I, I, and I, you're gonna hate this, uh, and I understand it, but the one place that ever got it right, um, but then they backtracked, which I don't know why, was Michigan when they did the legacy uniform.

So you mass on, and, and this has been my proposal for years where I gotta get back to Lane Johnson here, but you mass, you mass unretire every jersey except for.

You keep 42 in baseball.

42 in baseball is that number.

It stays retired forever, right?

I think that is the one important number in sports that, you know, Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier, that, that means something far and above and beyond even winning 5.

It's bigger than sports .

It's like the proverbial bigger than sports.

Yes, yes.

Every other number you mass and retire.

And then if the player wears that number again, uh, another player wears that number.

You wear a patch commemorating all the guys that wear it.

Not only would this spike jersey sales, it would take away a lot of the issues that teams are having with like, like when, uh, it's like the Cowboys with 88, right?

Yeah, I mean, you just know, you know, there's a lineage to that number, but like, my point, when, and when, when, when the Giants signed JJ McCarthy.

There was a legitimate concern over the number of single-digit numbers with retirements, with numbers that they aren't gonna hand out, plus the numbers that were already on the roster.

And so, We're getting to a point.

I mean, the Yankees are the perfect example.

Their best player wears number 99, and that number is gonna be retired.

Like, it's, it's like pretty soon you're gonna have like an iconic pitcher where baseball and basketball it's easier because of the rosters, right?

Like in football it's really hard because the roster sizes are the rosters not conducive.

It's not conducive to it, you know.

Anyway, all right, all the way back to, uh.

Lane Johnson retiring and then the day after, Albert, and this is where I think it gets interesting, um, Howie Roseman trades Cam Jergens, uh, to the Ravens for a 5th-round pick this year and a 2nd round pick next year.

Um, he drafted Jergens with the 2nd-round pick.

Jergens, if you don't remember and you're not totally plugged in on the Eagles, he was the guy that Jason Kelsey essentially hand selected to be his replacement out of Nebraska.

Um, There's two ways you can look at this, um, I think if you're Nick Siriani and Jalen Hurts, it's probably like, oh shit, you know, right?

Like, um, uh, this isn't great.

They're uh planning for a future that we may not be a part of.

Uh, Howie Roseman is piling on that 2028 draft, um, cause he has the first-round pick from, from AJ Brown as well.

But, I think if you take a minute and you allow yourself to have the more sensible take on this, this was a steal of a trade for Howie Roseman.

Cam Juergens wasn't playing well at guard because he, they bumped him from center to guard.

Um, they have a, a guy in Drew Kendall that they like and Lampkins, um, who they like playing in the interior, and they can kind of cross those positions.

Um.

So there's that part of it.

Jergens had the back surgery after the Super Bowl, and wasn't quite ever the same.

And as you mentioned, Albert, and this is where I want you to take the baton here, they're gonna get into a little bit of a prickly cap situation here and saving some of that Jergen's money is gonna be nice, you know.

Yeah, so I think, well, like, first of all, like it's important, I think, to note that the Eagles weren't the aggressor here, right?

Like , so the Ravens were the aggressor, and the reason why is like, so to go take it all the way back, they tried to keep Tyler Linderbaum and They offered to make him the highest paid center in football, um, last year.

Then at the beginning of the offseason, um, or the beginning of free agency, they actually got up over $22 million per year , and the market for Linderbaum just blew up and he winds up going to the Raiders at $27 million.

So they reset and the three guys that they had the position coming out of camp.

are now all out for the year.

So that's Giovon Gwyn, that's, um, Danny Pinter, and of course, Ethan Posic, who had previous injury, um, issues that the, um, that was the reason why the Browns walked away from him and now he has a torn ACL.

He's out for the year.

So the Ravens were calling around and the Ravens were trying to find a partner and they eventually found one in the Eagles.

Um, you know, for the Eagles, I think you hit the key points, which is, They moved Cam Juergens off of center to left guard, and he was not good at left guard.

And in the process, they figured out this kid, Drew Kendall out of Boston College, who's Pete Kendall's kid.

He, Like he can play, right?

So now it's And, and, and now it's, do we move Cam Jerrigens back?

What do we do with Drew Kendall then, you know, so there's like a little bit of that, like, all right, like how do we solve this?

Meanwhile, like you said, Willie Lampkin's on the bench, and he had a good camp too.

So I, I think it was sort of like a, it was a for, for, for Howie Roseman, it's kind of a trade of convenience and that like it solves that problem.

Um, they felt like they were getting good players out of Drew Kendall.

So if you're not getting much, much from, from Jerrigens at guard, but you think you get more out of him at center if you move him back, but then you're bumping a good player out of that spot, like, it's just tricky, you know.

And, uh, and so, you know, in the end, this sort of, I think, became a way of saying, OK, like, this is cleaner and we're gonna get a lot younger on the offensive line.

Um, and having 4 of the 5 guys up front now starting on rookie contracts as long as Landon Dickerson is out at least, and then, you know, the cap situation, I think, is going to be a massive problem in, in, in, in, in the next year or 2 whenever they decide to start to take the cap on.

This is more serious than where the Rams were.

This is more serious than where the Bills were a couple of years ago when those teams took on.

It's not saints on the sliding scale, but I think it is.

I think it might be.

I think it might be like I talked to some people yesterday.

I think it might be as bad.

I mean, it, it is like multi-year, yeah, and, and, and, you know what was interesting was I had somebody say this to me like yesterday I was talking to a cap guy who's been doing this forever, and, um, he said like in like the way that this is happening now with some of these teams, he said we're in this upside down world.

Um, it used to be teams had to, teams had to keep, had to cut good players to be cap solvent.

Now they have to keep bad players to be cap solvent, you know.

So, in essence, what he's saying is, sometimes you've got to keep a player past his usefulness.

Because the cap implications become so great on the back end because you've mortgaged his contract so many times, you know , so how do you, how do you work your way out of that?

And there are major implications to Lane retiring that'll hit next year.

There are major implications to Cam Jergens retiring that'll hit next year.

And now, Connor, the question becomes, if you're the Eagles, right, if you know we're gonna be dealing with Lane's dead cap, we're gonna be dealing with Cam's dead cap.

Is it time to just start taking our medicine?

Like, you know, on a bigger scale.

And this, by the way, is at a time when you've got Cooper Jean eligible for a new contract, um, at the end of the year, Quinon Mitchell eligible for a new contract at the end of the year.

It's a fascinating situation.

And like I think even with the quarterback, like I, there are big picture questions that are, that are, that are coming for the Eagles and Um, I don't wanna make this.

I don't want this to sound at all like I'm taking a shot.

It was worth it.

What they did was worth it.

They won a championship.

They won a Super Bowl, and they made it to another.

That's and they made it to another, and over the last decade they've won two, right?

So like, and Jeffrey Laurie deserves a ton of credit because to do this you need to be spending above the cap, but eventually you have to pay the piper.

Um, and these things aren't just endless, even in, in an environment where we have a $300 million cap.

So there's no easy way out here.

And eventually, they're gonna have to take their medicine.

And the question now becomes to me, I don't think these things happen with that in mind, but do The two circumstances of Lane's retirement and the offer they got for Cam Jergens, do those become precursors to them deciding now is the time to pull the band-aid off.

And by the way, like that 2-round pick becomes really valuable because that, of course, turns into, to, to, to, to cost control talent that you can have on your roster while you're taking your medicine.

I think this is one of those moves and uh we're gonna get into uh our weekend slate here in a second, but I, I wanted to make this point.

I think this is one of those moves that For Howie in particular, and Howie gets a lot of credit, deservedly so.

I mean, he made it to 3 Super Bowls, he brought the franchise, its first Super Bowl in decades , first title in decades, first Super Bowl, period.

Um, and, you know, I mean, he, this is the greatest era of Eagles football ever, and he is the architect of that.

There's no question about it.

What's different and probably smart, About the setup that the Eagles have, is that how he can make moves that, you know, uh, Dan Morgan can't make.

How he can make moves that Joe Shane can't make.

Joe Shane at 2 and 2.

Can't lift up his hands and say, I'm good on this year.

Like, you know, and I'm not saying that's what Howie's doing, but certainly, there is a, an element of, you know, we're gonna see if the younger guys can figure it out, right?

And Howie, now, there's been franchises that have been investigated for tanking.

Howie is the one guy who legitimately pulled a starting quarterback in the middle of a game and said, Here's Nate Sudfeld in the 4th quarter of a close game because I would like a better draft pick.

OK.

Other GMs don't have tenure like Howie, in, in a different way, Jerry Jones, because Jerry Jones owns the team.

Jerry Jones can't hold Jerry Jones accountable.

Um, Howie's not gonna be held accountable in a way that You know, he's gonna have to tattoo, you know, you know what's interesting too is like everybody says like you get a grace period and the Eagles certainly deserve a grace period if they're gonna go through a couple of tough years, right?

100%, but that, that group deserves it, but are they actually gonna get it because like again like this goes back to, you know, what I remember people here saying was.

Like, the Patriots get the longest grace period ever, because of, you know, what they, what they, what they endured, right?

Like, or what, or what they, what they accomplished, right?

Like, so they accomplished, they, they win 6 Super Bowls over the course of two decades, like, yeah, of course, Bill's gonna get a grace period.

How'd that work out?

Right .

And Philly's a similar market.

So, are you telling me that if they decide, OK, in 27 and 28, we're gonna retool everything, you know, and we're, we're gonna, we're gonna get young and we're gonna like start to rebuild this thing from the ground up and get cap healthy and all that different stuff.

I mean, do I think like in October of 2027 or November of 2028, WIP is all of a sudden gonna be OK with that?

They say they are now.

Can you imagine like, like, like Terrence from Fishtown calls in and it's just like, yeah, I just want to see how grateful I am for the two championships.

Like, no worries that we're 0 and 5.

I don't care, you know, no, that's not how it works.

Grow up.

Um, but in, and in that way, um, how he's got to figure out, uh, what the next version of this looks like.