Eagles GM Howie Roseman goes behind-the-scenes of the team’s draft strategy

Big Pimpin’ could end up being the team motto for the 2024 Philadelphia Eagles. If you see it printed on merchandise this year, credit rookie Jalyx Hunt for stamping that swagalicious phrase on Howie Roseman’s forehead. It’s stuck on him like glue.

The jovial Eagles’ general manager was laughing out loud when asked about Hunt’s nickname for him during a recent appearance on the 94WIP Afternoon Show. Roseman, who may have gotten away with “highway robbery” at April’s draft, was in good spirits as he discussed the Eagles’ rookie class. Yes, the board shook out very much to his liking but don’t confuse their alleged draft haul for tickets to a ticker-tape parade.

“It doesn’t matter any feedback that you get for the offseason, the season is what matters,” Roseman told Ike Reese, Spike Eskin and Jack Fritz. “At the end of the day, our goal is to win, to make our fans proud, to make our organization proud and that is the publicity that matters. That, and putting together a winning team that has a chance to lead another parade in Philly.”

Eagles did it again

The two biggest names generating buzz are cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell (No. 22) and Cooper DeJean (No. 40). Both guys project to be starting-caliber players, hopefully building blocks in the Eagles’ secondary for a long time, and Roseman shared some behind-the-scenes information about how everything played out for the Eagles on draft night.

“What we do, the way we roll, we always work from the worst-case scenario down,” Roseman explained. “We’re not surprised by any outcome, certainly going through our process we didn’t expect Q [Quinyon Mitchell] to be there at 22 but we also understand that the draft is unpredictable, and the way we look at things isn’t the same as everybody else. We were prepared for him to be there … we got to a point where we felt pretty confident we were going to get a guy we had a first-round grade on at 22 and so we could be a little patient which isn’t necessarily in our DNA.”

The last part touched on Roseman’s propensity to trade up, something he mostly pumped the brakes on this year, aside from his decision to move up 10 spots for DeJean. The Eagles weren’t going to let a “red-star player” get away.

“Everything he does, he does well,” Roseman said of DeJean, “So, from our perspective, we think he is going to be a good outside corner, he can play nickel, we’ve never seen him play safety, so we don’t know how to project him there but wherever we put him, he’s gonna ball.”

Here are a few other highlights from a nearly 30-minute interview between Roseman and 94WIP.

On Eagles drafting Jeremiah Trotter Jr. … “He has a history of winning and winning at a high level wherever he goes. And he’s part of that because of the leadership he has on defense. It goes back to instincts. He can see plays develop. He’s a tremendous blitzer. He’s good in coverage. He reminds me a little bit, I don’t want to put too much on him, of TJ Edwards .. he’s got an unbelievable feel for the ball, good vision for the ball.”

On Jalen Hurts showing up to A.J. Brown’s press conference … “What I see as meaningful is Jalen’s leadership, just like what we talked about … he’s constantly trying to get better in every aspect on and off the field. That’s tremendous leadership to do that. He wants to do that. He loves his teammates. His relationship with A.J. goes back a long way, so when I see something like that it’s just consistent with what he is every day.”

On how important this year’s draft was to the Eagles’ future … “You can never replace Jason Kelce. You can never replace Fletcher Cox. Those guys are captains, they’ve been captains for as long as I can remember, and when you lose great players and great people, you gotta replace them with multiple people and great players.”

Lastly, Roseman was asked how he was planning to spend the next two months before things heat up and everyone reports to Eagles’ Training Camp. He’ll admittedly enjoy some much-needed downtime — maybe in Sea Isle City with Jason Kelce? — but the work doesn’t ever really stop.

“Every day, waiting for that waiver wire to come out,” Roseman said of his plans for the rest of the offseason. “See if there is anyone on the wire that can help our team, and keep in touch with the agents of undrafted players, see if there is any opportunity there. Communicate with the GMs of other teams in the league, see if there is any fits there … and I think every day you wake up and say, ‘Is there any way we can improve the football team and get better today?”