Jeff Lurie can't trust Howie Roseman with 2022 NFL draft originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
The Eagles desperately need to add young talent, and they’ll have an unprecedented chance to do that on April 29.
As the Eagles and Dolphins keep losing and with Carson Wentz playing better and better, the reality continues to grow that the Eagles will have three 1st-round draft picks and that two of them will be very early in the first round.
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The way it stands now, the Dolphins’ pick would be No. 2, the Eagles’ pick No. 6 and the Colts’ pick No. 13.
The Eagles have never had three 1st-round picks in a season. They haven’t even had two in the same draft since 1993 and 1973 before that.
The opportunity to add three elite players to this roster in one fell swoop is the chance of a lifetime. If the Eagles play this right, they could bolster both sides of the football and make a giant step toward returning to respectability.
It’s exciting to think about, especially the way this season is going. This is a roster shockingly devoid in young talent, especially on the defensive side. Imagine being able to add three of the 13 best players in the draft in one night? Or even three of the top 15 or 20?
April 29 is going to be one of the most important days in franchise history. That Colts pick is getting worse, but at the same time it’s solidifying itself as a 1st-rounder, and even if the Eagles wind up with two top-10 picks and a third in the top-20 they’ll be the first team since the 1991 Cowboys with three top-20 picks in the same draft (and only the second since 1975).
The problem is Howie.
And what a problem.
He’s the reason the Eagles are in this roster predicament in the first place. And as of now he’s the guy who’ll be making the picks to replace the players who can’t play. Who he picked.
And the cycle of mediocrity goes on.
Howie Roseman has been the Eagles’ general manager since 2010 with the exception of 2015, and you can’t argue with his salary cap management skill and his ability to gain assets through trades. And you can’t take away 2017, when a collection of veteran free agents he assembled that was expertly coached by Doug Pederson won a Super Bowl.
But come on.
This is a unique chance to rebuild a franchise that has to be rebuilt. How can Jeff Lurie trust that process to the guy who’s used 1st-round picks on Marcus Smith, Danny Watkins, Derek Barnett, Andre Dillard and Jalen Reagor?
He can’t.
The Eagles can’t afford to blow this chance.
Since being restored to power in 2016, Roseman has drafted 15 players in the first three rounds. The only one who’s made a Pro Bowl is Wentz, who couldn’t wait to leave.
The last defensive Pro Bowler the Eagles drafted was Fletcher Cox nine years ago. The last Pro Bowler the Eagles drafted outside the first round was Zach Ertz eight years ago and the last one on defense was Trent Cole 16 years ago.
I don’t know what it would take for Lurie to move on from Roseman in the general manager role. He sees Howie as the guy who brought him the Lombardi Trophy he’d been waiting for since 1994. And now he’s going to fire him?
But he parted ways with boyhood friend Joe Banner, the architect of the successful Eagles teams during the Andy Reid Era. He fired Reid, who he had called his “head coach for life.” He moved on from Pederson three years after he won a Super Bowl.
Lurie is a smart guy, and at some point he has to look at this roster and realize there just isn’t enough young talent here to be competitive, and there hasn’t been for years.
April 29. Three picks that could revive a franchise.
Very few teams get this kind of opportunity. Very few teams have the chance to add three potential franchise players in the span of a few hours.
The Eagles are headed there.
And someone other than Howie Roseman has to make those picks.
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