Eagles general manager Howie Roseman isn’t going to make everyone happy — that comes with the territory of the job — but he was plenty defensive about how he and his team executed its selection process at the 2021 NFL Draft last weekend.
Appearing on 94WIP, Roseman was asked if he was using his own personal draft board rather than the one put together by scouts and other top decision-makers.
“That’s ridiculous,” Roseman said. “Every single person on our staff has their own draft board. That’s how we write up reports. [Head coach] Nick Sirianni has his own draft board, [vice president of player personnel] Andy Weidl has his own draft board, Tom Donahoe has his own draft board, I have my own draft board. That’s how we rank players. That’s how our system is set up, to do that.”
While the Eagles’ draft will be highlighted by the selection of Heisman Trophy-winning wide receiver, DeVonta Smith, questions arose during the third round when traded back from pick 70 to 73. They took Louisiana Tech defensive tackle, Milton Williams while losing out on Alim McNeil, who was taken one pick earlier at 72 by the Detroit Lions.
Cameras subsequently caught Roseman doling out fist bumps around the war room, but senior advisor Tom Donahoe was reluctant to do so, suggesting he was unhappy with the turn of events.
“We have an Eagles draft board that reflects a lot of things, and my job is to bring them all together,” Roseman said. “My job is to get the coaches’ perspective, the scouts’ perspective, the medical perspective, the character perspective as we do this process. My job is to try to reflect all of that. I listen to everyone to try and make these decisions. And at the same time, someone may be unhappy because it may not be reflected accurately in all the information that I have that they may not have.
“Discussion and debate and having these conversations, it’s okay. You’d rather have that passion. Tom’s been here for a long time. We’ve been together for 10 years, an extremely close relationship. It’s okay to have tough conversations, and Tom and I have had a lot of them in 10 years.”
Despite having a widely-lauded draft, Roseman still has the microscope firmly set upon him after the Eagles’ swift nosedive in play over the last three seasons that saw them go from Super Bowl winners to the worst team in the worst division of football last year.
