A look at Howie Roseman's most unconventional roster acquisitions originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
It doesn’t always work. Sometimes it fails. And sometimes it fails spectacularly. Other times you just may get a Pro Bowler out of the deal.
Since Howie Roseman first became Eagles general manager more than 12 years ago, he’s demonstrated a penchant for unconventional moves. Off-the-wall moves might be a better phrase for it.
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That means trying guys at new positions. Or luring guys out of retirement. Or acquiring guys who haven’t played football in a few years. Or just maybe signing a giant rugby player who’s never played a snap of football.
This year’s experiment is two-time Olympic hurdler Devon Allen, who hasn’t played football since he was at Oregon in 2016.
Let’s take a look at a handful of Roseman’s most offbeat acquisitions, listed chronologically.
Chad Hall [Signed March 11, 2010]
Hall played at Air Force, finishing his senior year in 2007 with 2002 scrimmage yards, third-most in the BCS. At 5-foot-8, 180 pounds, he went undrafted, so he gave up football and served two years in the Air Force, repairing jets at Hill Air Force Base near Ogden, Utah. Despite the layoff, Roseman signed him in the spring of 2010, just six weeks after he became GM. Hall was on and off the Eagles’ practice squad and active roster the next two years. He played in 15 games, caught 16 passes for 155 yards and two TDs and rushed 12 times for 42 yards. He finished his career with the 49ers in 2012 and back with Andy Reid with the Chiefs in 2013 before embarking on a coaching career. He’s currently Bills wide receivers coach under former Eagles assistant Sean McDermott.
Fireman Danny [Drafted in first round with 23rd pick, April 28, 2011]
Why was this such an off-the-wall pick? Because Fireman Danny never played football until he was 22 and had turned 26 six months before the draft, making him the oldest first-round pick in 40 years — since the Chargers drafted 28-year-old running back Leon Burns out of Long Beach State with the 13th pick in the 1971 draft. Burns only rushed for 292 yards in his brief two-year NFL career, and Fireman Danny wasn’t much better. Danny Watkins, as he’s also known, grew up in Canada playing hockey. He went to a JUCO in California to study firefighting but found himself on the football team. After a year of JUCO and two years at Baylor, Roseman snagged him. Didn’t work out. To put it mildly. Watkins played 23 games for the Eagles and one for the Dolphins before retiring and pursuing his true love — fighting fires.
Alejandro Villaneuva [Signed May 5, 2014]
Villaneuva played a variety of positions during his career at Army — defensive end, left tackle, wide receiver, tight end — before embarking on a military career. He spent two years with the Army Rangers before giving football another shot. He worked out for the Bears but didn’t get a contract offer, so he spent two more years in the Army. In March 2014, four years after he last played organized football, Villaneuva worked out at a regional combine, and the Eagles took notice. Two months later they signed him as a defensive end. That didn’t work out, and they released him after training camp. He resurfaced with the Steelers, who converted him to offensive tackle, and he spent seven years in the NFL, six with Pittsburgh, and made two Pro Bowls. He retired in March having never missed a game.
Greg Ward [Signed as undrafted rookie, May 11, 2017]
Ward played quarterback at Houston, and he was pretty good. He threw 52 touchdowns and 26 interceptions for the Cougars, rushed for 39 more TDs and completed 68 percent of his passes. In 2015, he was the only BCS player to throw at least 16 TDs and rush for at least 16 TDs. The Eagles signed him and converted him to wide receiver. He spent most of his first two seasons on the practice squad learning a new position before finally getting a chance to play in 2019. He caught 28 passes for 254 yards in seven late-season games and led the team in 2020 with 53 catches and six TDs. He remains on the roster, although he played sparingly last year and caught just two passes. His 88 career catches are sixth-most in franchise history by an undrafted wide receiver.
Jordan Mailata [Drafted in seventh round, April 28, 2018]
It doesn’t get more unconventional than drafting a 21-year-old rugby player who had never played football at any level. But it turned out to be a stroke of genius. Mailata spent his first two seasons learning the game and dealing with back injuries before taking over left tackle in 2020 for injured Andre Dillard, and in two seasons he's become one of the top offensive linemen in the NFL. Pro Football Focus ranked him as the NFL’s second-best left tackle last year, and he’s now signed through 2025 at $16 million per year. He’s already started more games than any Eagles offensive lineman drafted in the seventh round or later since Reggie Singletary — himself a converted defensive lineman — in the late 1980s.
Josh McCown [Signed Aug. 17, 2019]
McCown had announced his retirement after 17 NFL seasons with 10 teams and was hired as an NFL analyst by ESPN when the Eagles, hit by training camp injuries to Cody Kessler and Nate Sudfeld, convinced him to come out of retirement to back up Carson Wentz. At 40 years old, McCown replaced Jeff Garcia as the oldest quarterback in Eagles history. McCown only threw five passes during the regular season, but when Wentz suffered a concussion in the second series of the Eagles’ home wild-card game against the Seahawks, McCown became the seventh player in NFL history to play in a postseason game in his 40s (joining Sonny Jurgensen, Brett Favre, Charlie Conerly, Drew Brees, Tom Brady and George Blanda). Playing most of the game with a torn hamstring, McCown completed 18 of 24 passes but the Eagles lost 17-9. Although he spent parts of the 2020 season on the Eagles’ and Texans’ practice squads, McCown never played again.
Tyree Jackson [Signed to futures contract Jan. 7, 2021]
Jackson threw 49 touchdowns and 24 interceptions and passed for nearly 7,000 yards in three years quarterbacking the Buffalo Bulls. Like he did with Ward four years earlier, Roseman signed Jackson and converted him, in this case to tight end. At 6-7, 250 pounds, Jackson sure looks the part. His rookie training camp was impressive before he was sidelined with a back injury that kept him out until the middle of the season. In the meaningless season finale against the Cowboys, he caught his first three passes for 22 yards, including a TD from Gardner Minshew. He tore his ACL later in the game and remains on the roster rehabbing.
Devon Allen [Signed as undrafted rookie, April 8, 2022]
Allen hasn’t played football since the 2016 season with Oregon, and he hasn’t played regularly since 2014, when he caught 41 passes for 684 yards and seven touchdowns. But he hasn’t exactly been sitting around doing nothing. Allen is one of the top hurdlers in history. He’s a two-time Olympian and last month in New York ran 12.84 at the New York Granx Prix at Randall’s Island, the No. 3 time in world history. Allen has said he’ll put track on the back burner once he races at the World Athletics Championships next week at Hayward Field, his old home track in Eugene.
