How the Eagle turned it all around

[LennG]

A great article by Tom Rock of Newsday on how the Eagles completely turned around a 4-12 team in just a matter of 4-5 years to a possible Super Bowl contender.

https://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/tom-rock/nfc-championship-game-eagles-giants-h8pj931d?utm_medium=web_share_api&utm_campaign=web_share_api

One thing that stood out to me is

The answer lies in general manager Howie Roseman, voted this season's Executive of the Year by the Pro Football Writers of America.

It wasn't making all the right decisions that led him to that lofty honor for the second time in his career (he's the fourth GM to win it multiple times, and two of the others, Bill Polian and George Young, are in the Hall of Fame). It was his willingness to abandon bad decisions before they became worse.

When things began to sour with Doug Pederson as the head coach, it was Roseman who axed him and hired Nick Sirianni as a replacement.

When it seemed as if the Eagles had a franchise quarterback in Carson Wentz, it was Roseman who drafted Jalen Hurts and then traded Wentz away.

After Roseman drafted a series of disappointing receivers in Nelson Agholor, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and Jalen Reagor, he cut ties with them and then traded up to select DeVonta Smith in 2021 (leapfrogging the Giants to do so, much to their chagrin). Before this season, he acquired A.J. Brown from the Titans.

Having locked up the stars of his 2018 draft class with long-term deals (Jordan Mailata, Dallas Goedert, Josh Sweat and Avonte Maddox among them) and keeping Cox on the team, Roseman was able to bolster the roster with free agents Haason Reddick, Kyzir White and Giants salary-cap casualty James Bradberry. Roseman traded for Brown and C.J. Gardner-Johnson.

The result? An NFC Championship Game appearance, a franchise-record 14 wins in the regular season and the deepest and most well-rounded team in the NFL, with an astounding 17 players earning Pro Bowl or Pro Bowl alternate status.

[Jclayton92]

Not to mention they have a top 10 pick this year.

[kartanoman]

He's rolling sevens and elevens and good for him. One day, for reasons unbeknownst to him, he'll roll snake eyes.

But the one aspect of his management strategy which works is using risk, issue and opportunity management to drive his decision making. In addition, when he realized one of his investments (e.g. Wentz) was riddled with issues (i.e. injuries), he marketed Wentz before sending him off to capture maximum return.

His Executive of the Year award is well deserved. Still, what works today may not tomorrow due to the uncertainty in the personnel market. That he has a penchant to cut losses early is keen on his part. But,of course, he still has to get the right personnel to replace and it's worked for him today, but it's far from a prescribed method that will always work tomorrow.

Great article, thanks Lenn!

Peace!

[Rambo89]

Arguably the best run franchise in the sport.  And I hate them more than any team in the league more so than Dallas.

[coggs]

Having the best OL in the league isn't exactly a detriment.