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Believe it or not, we’ve come to the end of yet another season of Philadelphia Eagles football. This one felt like it flew by pretty fast. There were peaks and valleys — remember Week 3? — and lots to process.
We’re starting the compartmentalization process this week by conducting a series of year-end approval polls. Before what promises to be a formative offseason, how do Eagles fans feel about the people in charge of the team?
We continue today with the team’s executive vice president of football operations, Howie Roseman.
In his first year back in power, Roseman certainly didn’t waste much time getting back into the swing of things. He jettisoned Chip Kelly’s worst decisions, made a few big ones of his own (hello, Mr. Carson Wentz) and set the franchise moving in a completely new direction, one of his own creation and one by which he, and largely he alone, will be judged.
The results so far? Mixed, but trending upwards.
The good: he found the team its franchise quarterback. You look around at the teams who win Super Bowls, and they’re the teams who find their man when he’s young. The Eagles have done that. Roseman made it abundantly clear they plan to build around Wentz, who is 24 years old and showed signs this year of a franchise quarterback who has the tools to become one of the best in the league in a few years. Good quarterbacking changes everything, and the Eagles have it again after years of stopgaps.
The bad: his big offseason contracts, most of which were handed to in-house players to keep them on board, haven’t looked great. Fletcher Cox had another very good season, but it was a minor regression from 2015. Lane Johnson got suspended. Zach Ertz showed up only in December. Brent Celek’s production declined. And Vinny Curry dropped off the face of the Earth, barely fending off Marcus Smith in the team’s sack totals.
For me, it’s been a mixed bag, but the good — solidifying the future of the franchise at the most important position in the game — outweighs the bad, for now.
Roseman has more work to do this offseason, but he added an interesting wrinkle into the mix this week.
Yesterday, during his season-ending debriefing with the media, Roseman discussed how much of a role Joe Douglas, vice president of player personnel, will have during the offseason, from setting the team’s draft board to factoring in on every personnel conversation the team will have during free agency and so on. Roseman made it abundantly clear that Douglas is going to be a major player in the team’s front office, and a big reason for a number of their decisions this offseason.
Roseman is still the team’s point man on things like the draft and free agency, and he should be held accountable thusly. And that means, while Douglas will be also be evaluated based on the team’s moves, this is still a crucial offseason for Roseman, and one he can’t afford to get wrong.
Do you approve of the job Howie Roseman is doing as executive vice president of football operations of the Philadelphia Eagles? Vote now in the poll below and leave your thoughts in the comments.
Roseman Approval Polls:
- December 2016: 49% approval
- November 2016: 79% approval
- September 2016: 97% approval
- May 2016: 74% approval
- February 2015: 28% approval
- January 2015: 39% approval
- December 2014: 86% approval
- November 2014: 89% approval
- October 2014: 87% approval
- July 2014: 89% approval
- May 2014 (post-draft): 91% approval
- May 2014 (pre-draft): 85% approval
- April 2014: 79% approval
- March 2014: 97% approval
- January 2014: 87% approval