Report: Jeffrey Lurie hasn’t even considered firing Howie Roseman

Many agree that Howie Roseman is the biggest problem with the Philadelphia Eagles and shouldn’t be retained as the team’s general manager.

Take these results from a late November poll conducted here at Bleeding Green Nation, for example:

Or more recent results from SportsRadio 94WIP polling:

People rightfully feel this way because they look at how Roseman has built a roster that is old, expensive, and bad. They look at his disastrous 2020 offseason. They look at his obvious failings in the NFL Draft. They look at how there isn’t an easy path to improvement because he’s tied up the Eagles’ resources in poor investments.

There’s really no shortage of evidence to justify Roseman’s removal.

And, yet, it doesn’t seem like Roseman is actually in any danger of losing his job. Former Eagles president and Joe Banner recently said that there is “less than a 10% chance Roseman is gone.”

Now we have the Inquirer’s Paul Domowitch reporting that Jeffrey Lurie hasn’t even considered the idea of stripping Roseman’s power.

One thing that definitely isn’t hanging in the balance, though, much to the chagrin of many Eagles fans, is the future of the general manager, Howie Roseman. Sources close to owner Jeffrey Lurie said that while no decision has been reached on whether Pederson will be back for a sixth season, Roseman’s return never has been in doubt. In fact, it’s not even something Lurie has contemplated.

Fantastic. What ill-advised acquisition can fans look forward to next? Who’s going to be the next obvious superstar that the Eagles pass on in the NFL Draft in favor of a player that might be out of the league in a few seasons?

The reality is that if Roseman held the answers, the Eagles wouldn’t be in the mess they’re in right now.

But wait, there’s more from Domo’s reporting.

“[Lurie] likes to be surrounded by people that he feels he can trust without any reservation,” said a league executive who has worked with both Lurie and Roseman. “People that kind of know him and how he thinks, and vice-versa. Jeffrey is very uncomfortable in situations where he doesn’t have people like that immediately around him. And there’s nobody else there that can be that to him at the moment other than Howie. So I have a hard time picturing him standing there without anybody like that by his side.”

This sentiment isn’t exactly shocking. We all know that Lurie really trusts Roseman. It’s almost impossible to believe he’ll ever be gone without seeing it happen first.

The preceding passage reminds me of this quote from a 2015 story about Roseman:

‘But Lurie is fiercely loyal to Roseman, who’s risen through the organization from intern to GM and has been here since 2000. Lurie even kept Roseman over his boyhood friend, team president Joe Banner, when Roseman and Banner were locked in a power struggle a few years ago. Jeffrey sees Howie as a messiah,” a one-time Eagles front-office exec said Wednesday. “Howie can do no wrong in his eyes.”’

To Roseman’s credit, he did a really great job of setting the team up for their Super Bowl success in 2017. He deserves all the credit in the world for that year. Lurie’s faith in him paid off in that case.

But Roseman also deserves all the blame for how things have crumbled since the team’s championship success. And there isn’t reason to believe he’s the one to get this team pointed back in the right direction. It’s frustrating that Lurie seemingly doesn’t recognize as much.

It’s also disappointing to think that Roseman could be retained while Doug Pederson is scapegoated. But apparently it’s not a possibility that would take the Eagles’ head coach by surprise.

“[Pederson] felt he could work with him, but he also knew that Roseman is a master at self-preservation. If things ever went south, it would be him being shown the door, not Roseman. Pederson has become increasingly frustrated the last couple of years with the way Roseman has conveniently allowed him to be the fall guy in front of the media.”

Pederson has every right to be frustrated to constantly answer for the poor roster that Roseman built. It’s the head coach who draws a lot of ire while the general manager stays out of sight and out of mind (for some, at least).

To be clear, Pederson deserves blame for how this season has gone. But he’s hardly the only problem and he’s not even the biggest one. Pederson knows this, too, and it has some believing that he “wouldn’t be totally unhappy if he ends up getting fired.”

If the Eagles move on from Pederson and continue to struggle with Roseman, no one will be surprised.

Except for Lurie, I guess.