PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Ozzie Newsome wasn’t sure if he was seeing straight. Off in the distance, he spotted a familiar face; not just any face, but the face of one of the other 31 people on the planet who just so happened to have the same job as Newsome.
The guy was riding down the road by bike. This sort of coincidence was not on Newsome’s vacation bingo card.
A Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end who starred for the Cleveland Browns in the 1980s, Newsome made history in 1996 when the Baltimore Ravens tapped him to be their general manager. He was the first African-American to ever hold the title for an NFL franchise.
The hire proved prescient. Five years into Newsome’s tenure, the Ravens won their first Super Bowl.
Around that same time, 100 miles north of Baltimore, in Philadelphia, a young, hungry, aspiring executive was getting his feet wet in the league. Howie Roseman spent the 2000 season as a front office intern for the Eagles before moving on to the salary cap staff the next two years.
With former Eagles President Joe Banner acting as his mentor, Roseman swiftly climbed the rungs of the organization. The North Jersey native was elevated to director of football administration in 2003 and promoted to vice president of player personnel in 2008.
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By 2010, he was named general manager, putting him in the exclusive company of peers like Newsome.
Before running into each other unexpectedly in Orange Beach along the Alabama coast, Roseman and Newsome didn’t know each other well.
“I’d be driving on and off the island, and I would see Howie riding a bike,” Newsome told The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane on the “unCovering the Birds” podcast. “I go, ‘I know this guy!’ [Roseman], his sons, and some of his relatives, they would be riding bikes on the island, and I recognized him.”
Roseman and Newsome stopped to talk.
“I said, ‘Howie, what are you doing down here?’” Newsome recalled.
Newsome, who grew up in Muscle Shoals, learned that Roseman has Alabama ties, too. His wife’s family is from Mobile.
Following their chance encounter, a deeper relationship bloomed. Roseman and Newsome planned meet-ups in Orange Beach whenever they were both back in the area. Even though the two men were about 1,000 miles away from their desks, they still talked a lot of shop.
Earning his first general manager opportunity almost a decade and a half after Newsome landed the Ravens gig, Roseman constantly sought feedback.
“We would sit out on [Roseman’s] boat,” said Newsome. “He asked great questions, and when I would answer his question, it allowed me the opportunity to [self-assess] whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. So in our talks, he made me better at my job because he knew what questions to ask.”
Roseman and Newsome’s first Orange Beach run-in happened in the early ’00s. A few years later, Roseman was at a crossroads. Then-Eagles head coach Chip Kelly had assumed authority over Roseman and, in 2015, punted him, along with several of his loyal staffers, out of the personnel department. Everything Roseman had worked for was suddenly out of reach.
There were no guarantees he would get another shot to run another NFL team, let alone the Eagles.
In the darkest period of Roseman’s career, his connection to Newsome became a lifeline. Newsome served as a sounding board and confidant. Roseman continued asking questions. He might have lost his influence within the Eagles, but he didn’t give up on the idea of someday becoming a more well-rounded GM — a GM like Newsome, who pretty much ran the whole show in Baltimore.
Roseman sought Newsome’s input on a variety of topics, like managing the equipment staff and training room, scheduling offseason workouts and practice sessions, and dealing with team doctors. Newsome, who won a second Super Bowl with the Ravens in 2013, was more than willing to share his knowledge.
When Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie fired the underperforming Kelly before the end of the 2015 regular season, Roseman was ready to reclaim the reins of football operations. During his sabbatical, he developed a plan for remaking the Eagles, then deployed it at breakneck speed upon being reinstalled in his previous role.
“Guns ablazing is the best way to phrase it,” said Jake Rosenberg, Roseman’s former right-hand man on contract negotiations and childhood friend. “It was not good for life expectancy.”
Within two years of returning to power, Roseman led the Eagles to their first Super Bowl. A couple of months ago, he watched the team win another.
In Baltimore, Newsome marveled. He and Roseman are the only two general managers in NFL history to win multiple Super Bowls with different quarterback-head coach combos. (The Eagles won with coach Doug Pederson and quarterback Nick Foles in 2018, and Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts in 2025.)
“Very few people get a second chance within the same organization,” Newsome said, “and I don't know if anybody else has had that, then had the success he has. … I think that’s what separates him. Howie has been with the Eagles the whole time and has been able to reinvent himself within that organization.”
🎧 ▶️ unCovering the Birds
In the latest episode of “unCovering the Birds,” The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane explores the significance of Roseman’s personal and professional friendship with Newsome, and other impactful moments and relationships in Roseman’s life. Listen to find out more about Roseman’s ride to the top of his profession.
“unCovering the Birds” is a production of The Philadelphia Inquirer and KYW Newsradio Original Podcasts. Look for new episodes each week during the regular season. Follow on the free Audacy app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever else you listen to podcasts.