Mailbag: Howie Roseman's three best and three worst moves

On Monday we solicited questions for an Eagles mailbag via Twitter or whatever it's called now. Thank you as always for doing half the work for me. This will be Part I of a two-part mailbag. Part II will be draft-heavy. Let's just get right to it.

Question from @tech_44: Have you ever ranked your personal top 3 favorite Howie Roseman moves?

Let's just keep it to three, and we'll do the good and the bad. There were a lot of choices on both, but here are my top three on each.

First, the good.

1) The fleecing of Miami and subsequent maneuvering to land DeVonta Smith: In March of 2021, the Eagles traded the sixth overall pick to the Miami Dolphins for the 12th overall pick, a 2022 first-round pick, and a move up from the fifth round to the fourth round. In chart form:

The risk in moving back was that a great prospect like WR Ja'Marr Chase might be available at pick No. 6, and the Eagles would have missed out on him by moving back.

As it turned out, Chase got picked fifth overall by the Bengals. As the draft unfolded, it was not going well for the Eagles, as two quarterbacks, Justin Fields and Mac Jones, began to slide, thus taking more non-quarterbacks — or more specifically the best wide receivers and cornerbacks — off of the board prior to the Eagles' pick. Chase and Kyle Pitts were gone, as were Alabama WR Jaylen Waddle (to the Dolphins at 6), South Carolina CB Jaycee Horn (to the Panthers at 8), and Patrick Surtain (to the Broncos at 9).

When the Cowboys were on the clock at pick No. 10, the Eagles' chances at landing the remaining wide receivers worthy of a top selection (Smith) were in doubt. The Giants were sitting at pick No. 11, and they were heavily rumored to be interested in Smith.

With Dallas in need of help at cornerback at the time and the top two corners gone, the Eagles were able to trade up with the Cowboys ahead of the Giants to land their guy. The cost was the second of the Eagles' two third-round picks (84th overall), a reasonable cost to ensure the selection of their guy.

The Eagles' read was very likely right that the Giants would have taken Smith, as evidenced by their subsequent trade out of the 11th pick, and eventual selection of another receiver, Florida's Kadarius Toney, at pick No. 20.

Ultimately, they got a star receiver while also landing a future first-round pick. If you want to quibble over the fact that the Cowboys ended up with Micah Parsons, that's fair, but Roseman's maneuvering was impressive nevertheless.

2) Trading Carson Wentz to the Colts, and the ensuing fleecing of the Saints: I give the Eagles credit. After hitching their wagon to Wentz with heavy draft, financial, and emotional resources, they made the right choice to cut bait, and when you look at all the subsequent moves they made with the picks they acquired for him they actually got an extremely impressive return, mainly from a lopsided deal with the Saints.

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• Explaining the Eagles' fifth-year option with WR DeVonta Smith
  

3) Trading Sam Bradford: I remember when I first heard the details of that trade I was certain they couldn't possibly be right. But, yep, they took advantage of a team in a desperate situation and got first- and fourth-round picks for a cooked quarterback who couldn't stay on the field.

While we're at it, let's do his three worst moves, too.

1) Drafting Jalen Reagor over Justin Jefferson: Self-explanatory, right?

2) Alshon Jeffery's contract extension: Just before the start of the 2019 season, the Eagles made a weird "reward doesn't come close to matching the risk" error of guaranteeing Jeffery’s 2020 salary in exchange for a small pay cut. It was a puzzling move at the time, and it turned out to be disastrous, as Jeffery proceeded to have the “bad year trifecta.”

1. He had a down year as a player on the field, both in the stat sheet and on the "eye test." 
2. He anonymously criticized Carson Wentz (in two straight seasons, actually) to then ESPN reporter Josina Anderson, and while those criticisms may have been valid, they were harmful to the team.
3. And then in December of the 2019 season, Jeffery suffered a Lisfranc injury, had surgery, and missed the first eight games of the 2020 regular season. After his return, Jeffery had six catches in seven games.

He then never played again.

: Forget that he hated football and wanted to hang out in the firehouse. He was f****** 26 years old!!! (In fairness, Andy Reid had his fingerprints on that one, too.)

Question from PreMoveObserver: With the Reddick move finally done, obviously Nolan Smith needs to play like the 30th overall pick. How do you see Vic Fangio using him with Bryce Huff, Josh Sweat, and Zack Baun?

During free agency, I had considered profiling the Dolphins' Andrew Van Ginkel for one of my "Three free agents who make sense for the Eagles" posts, but I eliminated him as a target because his profile seemed way too similar to Nolan Smith's. To begin, their size/athletic measurables are pretty close. Here's Van Ginkel's:

And here's Smith's: 

They're both undersized edge rushers with impressive athleticism. But also, there are some similarities in their play styles, in that they're both hustle guys who are primarily edge defenders, but also have some off-ball linebacker experience in their backgrounds.

Van Ginkel had something of a breakout season for the Dolphins under Fangio in 2023, collecting 69 tackles, 6 sacks, and 8 pass breakups. He played 561 snaps on the edge, 105 as a box linebacker, and 56 in the slot. While it would have been ridiculous to have an elite edge rusher like Haason Reddick dropping into coverage or really doing anything against the pass other than rush the passer, I do think that a more versatile role suits Smith and his skills. It'll be interesting to see what Fangio can get out of Smith.

Question from @loveschak: Will James Bradberry be on the initial 53 man roster? If he isn’t starting, I can’t see him covering punts, nor any team trading for him, nor the Eagles swallowing his dead money. Could he be inactive for 17 weeks?

I think it's easy to go onto OverTheCap or Spotrac and see that Bradberry has a dead money hit of a little over $15 million and just say, welp, I guess they're not cutting him. But guess what... If Bradberry plays for the Eagles in 2024 and the team cuts him thereafter, they'll have a dead money hit of a little under $11 million. Hell, even if he plays out the rest of his contract through 2025, he's going to have a dead money hit of $7.7 million thereafter. They're going to have to take their medicine on his contract at some point, no matter what.

The Eagles have six OTA workouts in May. They can get a look at Bradberry at that time, and if he gives them some reason to believe that he can have a bounce-back season, then OK, maybe you just keep him. But with the way he played last season it would be hard for me to keep him around. Just cut bait and move forward.

Question from @buff985: Does a reunion on a cheap number make sense for the Eagles and Avonte Maddox at this point?

Sure, but the team has to be better prepared with better backup options in the likely event he gets hurt again.

Question from @Waldo_Vince: How many more years of signing the Corey Nelsons of the world (this year's iterations being Zack Baun and Oren Burks) before Howie realizes the defense is being held back by having recycling bin players at the second level?

Well, they did sign Devin White. Maybe you like White, maybe you don't. (For the record, I'm skeptical.) 

But he was more of an investment than a Corey Nelson or a Nicholas Morrow. And personally, I kinda like the addition of Baun as a versatile backup. He's perfectly fine as a cheap depth guy.

I do hear you. The Eagles got torn apart last year in the middle of the field last season, notably by the 49ers and Cowboys, and in my opinion the Eagles need to put more of a priority on the linebacker position, but I wouldn't put White in the same bucket as guys like Nelson or Morrow.

Question from @ElevationRadio: Are you concerned about Nick Sirianni’s continued talking point of how they are “meshing” playbooks?

The Eagles' offense was a juggernaut in 2022. Things worked. It just got stale, predictable, and too conservative in 2023. You're not just going to throw out a lot of the things that worked. I think that bringing in outside help to help make those concepts less predictable while also adding new stuff is a logical approach. We'll see if Sirianni and Kellen Moore can make it work.

Question from @daslo76: You and BLG always said Howie could build a Super Bowl roster, but were skeptical about his ability to maintain a SB roster as they seemed to hit all the wrong buttons after 2017. How are you feeling about it now compared to then?

Howie has certainly proven to be a better builder than a maintainer. I thought that a lot of the things they did last offseason were reasonable given their cap situation, but a lot of it backfired. This is pretty crucial offseason. We'll see if they can bounce back after a horrid end to 2023, or if they'll steadily decline for a while like they did after 2017.

Question from @TheKingRobert: What team has improved the most in the NFC East and who got worse or didn’t improve at all?

The Commanders improved the most. Of course, that was a probably a given since they had the most cap space in the NFL entering free agency. And quite clearly, the Cowboys' roster took the biggest hit. In case you missed all out NFC East grades, you can find them here, by the way.

Question from @killakow: What are some lessons you’ve learned from the last couple of years that will help you better understand the draft (be it player evaluation, navigating noise you hear from the Eagles/nationally, or something else)?

I think that the longer you do this job the more you see through bulls**t, and during draft time I'm far more cynical in regard to information that finds its way to me than I am during any other time of the year. The only time I ever got pinpoint information in the draft was when another media guy (national guy, don't know if he/she would want me using their name, so I won't) told me specifically that the Eagles were going to draft Rasul Douglas in the third round, and that I should also start studying up on Shelton Gibson. That was impressive! 

But I don't report anything I hear about the Eagles' supposed interest on this player or that player, because if they have a chance to take that guy and then don't you'll look like an idiot. I remember doing a lot of digging on Joe Mixon in 2017, and when he was still available in the second round I was pretty sure they were going to take him. But nope, they took Sidney Jones. Luckily I hadn't reported my findings on the Eagles' interest in Mixon or I'd have looked like a dope. I mean, they liked his game and were willing to overlook his off-the-field stuff at the right value, but when they were on the clock they liked another player more. 🤷‍♂️. Even though I didn't get burned on that, it was a lesson learned.

I have actually found that information on what the team isn't going to do is pretty reliable. I could probably give a number of examples on that, but last year, for example, the Eagles were not taking Bijan Robinson with the 10th pick. As it turned out, the Falcons took him eighth, so we never got to see that for certain, but it was fun during the lead up to the draft watching WIP getting folks all riled up about something that was not going to happen.

Ultimately, even for a team that trades up and down regularly the Eagles are fairly predictable in the draft, because they've had the same philosophies in place for so long. We know what positions they prioritize, the types of players they like at those positions, what types of character flaws they'll accept, the types of risks they'll take on injured players, etc. Last year I had a trade up for Jalen Carter pegged, in 2022 I had them taking Jordan Davis, and in 2021 I had them taking DeVonta Smith. Even in 2020, it was clear they were going to take a wide receiver, but they just had a crazy lapse in judgment and took the wrong one.

None of those predictions were because I had inside info. They were just a result of covering the team for a long time, understanding what they do, and applying some common sense.

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