Speaking Tuesday at the NFL Annual Meetings in Florida, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie disputed the perception that he is heavily involved in the team’s personnel decisions, an issue that has been a major concern amongst fans as the team tries to rebuild their roster.
"If I really had to say, I’d say slightly less involved. Because I really believe in who we have in the building. I’m very trusting of the different departments that we have. I think our areas of expertise in terms of injury prevention and the steps we’ve taken to do that, which is a huge correlative with winning, whether it’s statistics and analytics, whether it’s psychological analysis, scouting, you name it, we’ve got great people in place,” Lurie said. “I would say if anything the last few years I’ve taken a little more of a backseat. I sometimes ask myself that question because I don’t want to be. I want to provide the resources, provide the support, and yet ask a lot of questions in the meantime because that’s what a good CEO does. You don’t just say ‘here it is, go with it.’ No. You want to be an active questioner of strategy and information and all that, and that’s what I do."
Lurie then went on to admit that there have been three times in the past that he remembers where he does feel he tried to influence a decision. Coincidently, all three of the instances he named involved elite-level players — the drafting of Lane Johnson, the attempt to draft Russell Wilson and the late-round find of Jordan Mailata. Lurie denied being involved in the decision to draft J.J. Arcega-Whiteside over D.K. Metcalf, saying he left that one up to Howie Roseman, Doug Pederson and the rest of the football staff.
Lurie’s answer is somewhat hysterical, considering he took credit for all the great decisions and pushed aside blame for the bad ones. The first part of his answer, saying he is “slightly less” involved, however, is very noteworthy — and there is plenty of truth to it.
Lurie has always been a hands-on owner, routinely attending practices, meetings and being involved in what is going on with the football team. He is not an owner that flies in on Sunday just to watch the game. That has been the case since he bought the team. His beliefs in how to win — by throwing the ball — have always been clear to the coaching staff. The head coaches and coaching staff choices he has made reflect that. That is no different than any other owner, as the head coach a team hires is almost always predicated on the staff they can bring with them, and the owner’s belief in that staff. The personnel moves, and the team consistently putting assets into the quarterback position, reflect that too.
The big moment where thing seemed to change with Lurie and his involvement in the team was with the hiring and firing of Chip Kelly.
Kelly taking over control of the roster in 2015 is a key moment in Lurie’s involvement with personnel decisions. After Kelly was given control, and then fired one year later, Lurie’s football team was in a bad place with really no strong leadership in place in the front office or the coaching staff. It seems like at that moment Lurie became more involved than usual, probably due to a lack of trust after what Kelly did — taking over the roster and essentially icing Lurie out. After putting Howie Roseman back in charge, someone he essentially fired a year earlier, Lurie becoming more involved is somewhat understandable.
The result over the next few years were mixed. The team missed on plenty of draft picks and handed out some bad contracts. They also, however, won the Super Bowl. So the idea that Lurie being heavily involved is a bad thing doesn’t really add up considering the results.
Now, however, you could see why Lurie would feel more comfortable being less involved.
Roseman has been able to completely build his staff and has been on the job for six seasons since Kelly pushed him aside. While fans can certainly debate whether Roseman deserves the trust Lurie gives him, the bottom line is he does trust Roseman due to the results on the field and the team consistently making the playoffs. That wasn’t the case when Roseman returned to the job in 2016.
Head coach Nick Sirianni is now in is second season and it is clear Lurie likes the staff Sirianni has put together more than the staff Doug Pederson wanted to keep/hire after the 2020 season. Things could change, but for now, the results of Sirianni’s first season should give Lurie confidence in the staff. Lurie didn’t step in on Pederson’s staff until things started to take a turn for the worst.
The bottom line is that Lurie is telling the truth — there is more reason for Lurie to feel he can trust the people around him than there has been in a long time, and as a result, he likely is less involved than he has been in past years.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com