Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, even after a draft praised by many pundits, continues to answer questions about his process.
The embattled Super Bowl-winning GM remained on the defensive during an appearance on 94WIP Tuesday when it was suggested he's using his personal draft board to make selections instead of the club's composite.
"That's ridiculous," Roseman retorted, via ESPN. "Every single person on our staff has their own draft board. That's how we write up reports. [Coach] Nick [Sirianni] has his own draft board, [vice president of player personnel] Andy Weidl has his own draft board, Tom Donahoe has his own draft board, I have my own draft board. That's how we rank players. That's how our system is set up, to do that.
"We have an Eagles draft board that reflects a lot of things, and my job is to bring them all together. My job is to get the coaches' perspective, the scouts' perspective, the medical perspective, the character perspective as we do this process. My job is to try to reflect all of that. I listen to everyone to try and make these decisions. And at the same time, someone may be unhappy because it may not be reflected accurately in all the information that I have that they may not have."
The Eagles traded up in the first-round with division rival Dallas to snag wideout DeVonta Smith, the Heisman Trophy winner out of Alabama. With their second-round pick, Roseman selected Bama center Landon Dickerson, who could be among the best lineman in the draft, but comes with injury concerns.
In the third round, Philly traded back from pick 70 to 73 and selected Louisiana Tech defensive tackle Milton Williams. While many media scouts had a good grade on Williams, with the trade back, which netted an additional sixth-round pick, Philly lost out on Alim McNeill, the other DT on its board who went at 72 to Detroit. Apparently, some in the Eagles draft room preferred McNeill and believed Philly should have taken him at 70 without trading down.
Cameras showed Eagles senior advisor Tom Donahoe miffed, reluctant to fist-bump Roseman after the Williams selection. The video went viral, leading to questions about the consensus in the Eagles draft room.
"Discussion and debate and having these conversations, it's OK. You'd rather have that passion," Roseman said. "Tom's been here for a long time. We've been together for 10 years, extremely close relationship. It's OK to have tough conversations, and Tom and I have had a lot of them in 10 years."
The Eagles front office has been the center of the offseason storm after a four-win season that prompted the firing of Doug Pederson and trade of Carson Wentz two years after handing him a massive contract. With most of the main players from the Super Bowl team gone, Roseman is under pressure to prove he can rebuild the roster once again. With that pressure comes scrutiny of every move.
