ESPN personality and former Philadelphia Eagles scout Louis Riddick made an appearance on The Jon and Sean Show on 97.5 The Fanatic on Friday afternoon. Given what's happened in the month of January regarding the Eagles front office power structure, it was only natural that Jon Marks and Sean Brace asked Riddick about his time spent in Philadelphia. Take a look at what was said. (Hat tip to JimmyK of PhillyVoice.)
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97.5: A lot has changed in the past month or so. I want to take you back to the first week of January when Tom Gamble was fired. You tweeted the following: "Philly "parting ways" with Gamble now? The pattern continues. #SMH." I’m just curious, you know, opened ended question: What’s your take with everything that’s happened with the Philadelphia Eagles front office?
Riddick: Well I think what’s happened is that now it’s the way it should have been for a long time. Let’s put it that way. Now it has finally gotten… let’s just say it’s been cleaned up. And now the people who are doing what they should be doing are doing what they should be doing. And the people who shouldn’t be doing what they are doing are no longer doing it. I mean Tom Gamble, Jason Licht, I’m gonna throw myself in there… these are some quality football person. Some football people who really know what they’re doing. People who know the game, who have strong personalities. Let’s just say they went into Philadelphia one way and left there another way.
97.5: Lou, it sounds like you’re taking direct aim at Howie Roseman without saying his name so I’ll give you a chance to actually say his name.
Riddick: Let’s just say this. I don’t want to get into a bunch of back and forth but I’ll put it this way: [Roseman] has been a constant there through a lot of the change. And it’s not secret that… I don’t think him and I will be sharing any Christmas cards any time soon. And Ed Marynowitz who’s now in charge there, you know, as far as the personnel is concerned, is a quality dude. Comes from a great, great football background as far as the people he’s been around and what he’s been taught, how he’s been taught the game, and how he looks at it now.
Chip Kelly is someone who I have admired from afar. Been able to talk to people who really know him and what he thinks and what he believes in. And I’m a huge fan of [Chip]. If him and Ed can get on the same page, and Chip believes in Ed, and Ed has nothing but the best intentions for Chip and getting Chip what he needs, it will be a great pairing.
The whole Ed being young and not being someone who’s very experienced in the NFL, yeah, it makes a difference. It could become a factor. But I know Ed. I worked with Ed for a year. I know what he thinks. I know he has a Nick Saban type of philosophy when it comes to football. Which is, in some ways, similar to how Chip feels too. See, Chip is a big, physical… a guy who loves big, physical style football. Even though it’s kind of packaged in a different way with the way he runs his offense.
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But I think [Chip and Marynowitz], a long story short, are a good match. I would expect them to hit the ground running and for the team to continue to improve and get back to where they were in Chip’s first year, and beyond.
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97.5: Clearly there has been a lot of talk about the Eagles front office and Howie is doing the contract stuff or whatever, but there was a high turnover rate. There were reports of a toxic environment [via CSN Philly] that was developing down there and a lot of that was attributed to Howie. What was the biggest problem when you were there and what you’ve heard since then, that Howie wasn’t working well with other people?
Riddick: Look, let’s just put it this way. Leadership, to me, is all about credibility, and being trustworthy, competency, and being someone people respect as far as skills are concerned, and the kind of impact that you have on others, and the kind of impact you have on the work environment as a whole. Alright? That’s what leadership is. When you’re in a position of leadership, that’s what you have to bring to the table. So if you’re starting to hear news of it being a "toxic environment", obviously, you’re not fulfilling those three criteria as far as I’m concerned from a leadership perspective. You can draw whatever conclusion you want from that."
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Listen to the complete interview here.
The comments are interesting. Riddick is clearly confident that there's hope for the Eagles new power structure with Chip Kelly at the helm and Ed Marynowitz serving as Kelly's player personnel executive. It's also clear he doesn't think very much of former Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, who was "promoted" (see: demoted) early in 2015.
Of course, bias must be accounted for. He could easily have an axe to grind with Roseman. But it's at least interesting to hear from one former employee had to say.