October 28, 2019

Doug Pederson weighs in on the Eagles' philosophy heading into the NFL trade deadline

By Matt Mullin
PhillyVoice Staff

On Monday, following a big road win over the Buffalo Bills, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson addressed the media as he always does. But, with the NFL trade deadline looming on the horizon — all trades must be finalized by 4 p.m. on Tuesday — there were naturally other topics aside from the game that needed to be discussed.

While Pederson isn't the guy with all the answers when it comes to the team's plans at the deadline — that would be general manager Howie Roseman — the Eagles coach was asked about how he views the trade deadline, whether there are certain areas he'd like to see addressed, and how his relationship with Roseman works this time of year.

Here's a look at what Pederson had to say...

Q. Howie Roseman has made two trade deadline deals the last two years. Do you just go in, knowing how much he loves to make moves, do you anticipate this will happen over the next 24 hours?

PEDERSON: Again, it has to be right. We have to do what's right for the Philadelphia Eagles and our team. Making sure that if it happens, the player coming in here is somebody that can help us.
But at the same time, I look at our roster, where we are, and the guys that are on the horizon as far as coming back and helping us out, too, that's a part of this, as well. If it happens, great, we'll welcome that. But we're always looking to add value, add depth, obviously and go from there.

Q. With the trade deadline, as you were saying, has to be right for the team and everything, but are there certain positions that you would like to see addressed?

PEDERSON: Long snapper [jokingly/laughter].

Q. Besides long snapper. We could all see who is hurt and where you have holes and everything like that. How much do you go to Howie and say, "We really need help here"? How does that work?

PEDERSON: Again, it's a little bit of fine line. Again, I look at our injury situation and who is coming back and where we are.
Obviously you put words in my mouth a little bit, but you can point to -- you can say, okay, D-tackle with the amount of injuries we've had there. You look at that.
But honestly, it's a little tricky because whoever -- if there's a move to be made a person has to be the right fit. Has to be the right timing. Has to be able to come in here and help us win and just add to our culture and add to the roster.

Q. Last year you guys had the same record at the trade deadline, 4-4 and it was seen as a vote of confidence from the front office that Howie went out and made a move. Did that matter to the coaching staff and the players, that the front office had that vote of confidence in the team; that they thought this could be a playoff team?

PEDERSON: Well, it's always a sign of confidence when you can do that and bring in somebody that can help you continue to win, and obviously where we were last year, same situation, basically. And where we are as a team right now, the way our guys have kind of hung together and battled through a lot of adversity the first eight weeks of the season, we've battled injury. We've battled a lot of talk and things off the field. We've fought through that.
So this team is starting to gel and come together, and so if we can add a piece, I think it's great. If we don't add a piece, I think it's great because of the guys in the locker room and I think that's a credit to those men.

If you came away from reading those comments feeling like it might be a relatively quiet trade deadline for the Eagles, you might be right. Then again, maybe that's just what the team wants us to think, for the obvious reason of not showing their hand — and additionally as a way to sound like they're standing by the players already in their locker room. For example, if Pederson had come out and said we need help here, here and here, that probably wouldn't have made the players currently at those positions feel very good about themselves.

However, Roseman and Co. didn't waste much time making their first 2019 deadline addition. Just a few hours after Pederson spoke, the team announced it added edge rusher Genard Avery from the Browns in exchange for an undisclosed draft pick.

It's looking like the Eagles will spend the next day shopping for players. Whether or not they land any more players — and how impactful those players will be — remains to be seen.

Stay tuned...