PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — While some believe it’s going to take the Eagles time to become a championship-caliber football team again, General Manager Howie Roseman was expressing a totally different vibe Tuesday on The WIP Morning Show.
When host Angelo Cataldi said fans are getting the impression that the Eagles are in "kind of a transition" the next season or two, Roseman acted incredulous.
"From who?" he said.
The answer to that question: Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie, who said he anticipated a transition period after firing Super Bowl-winning head coach Doug Pederson.
Related
Roseman’s response suggests the words “retool” and “rebuild” are not in the vocabulary of the people who work in the Novacare Complex.
"In 2016, people were telling us it was gonna take five years, and we did it in 12 months," Roseman said, referring to Super Bowl LII in the 2017-18 season. "That’s the challenge that we wanna do better on. We want to do it quicker."
Wanting a "quicker" rebound from the mess that was the 2020 season is a bold statement. The Eagles were an underachieving team in 2015 when they went 7-9 in head coach Chip Kelly’s last season with the franchise. But they weren’t an injury-riddled 4-11-1 team with a talent cupboard running thin.
"You’re not conceding the NFC East this season, is that correct?" Cataldi asked.
"I think I said to you last year, before the season, we don’t spend all year trying to make this team as good as possible to not try to compete," Roseman answered. "That’s crazy."
Roseman emphasized their intention to keep building upon the players they have to reach their goals again.
Of course, Roseman’s messaging prior to the 2020 season was, in fact, that they play to win in January. However, the only game that month was the infamous season finale loss to Washington in which Pederson pulled quarterback Jalen Hurts in the fourth quarter for the seldom-used Nate Sudfeld in a close game.
It's possible 2021 will be an improvement for the Eagles, if they’re not marred in any tanking controversies at any point.
Roseman said the organization couldn’t be more excited after the 2021 draft, which saw the team come away with nine players — most notably Heisman Trophy-winning Alabama receiver DeVonta Smith.
He says he is also really excited about the new coaching staff, led by first-time NFL head coach Nick Sirianni, who has entertained the masses with a unique enthusiasm in recent press conferences — from playing rock-paper-scissors to gauge draft prospects' competitiveness, to telling reporters that the contractor at his house gave him a high-five after Smith's selection.
But there’s also the outside theory that Sirianni will not push back at Roseman and Lurie if he disagrees on something. Roseman laughed when Cataldo mentioned it, explaining, "This guy has been waiting his opportunity his whole life … We want his perspective and opinion."