"Why? Because he's Howie."
That was the only reasoning that one NFL agent offered as to why Howie Roseman was the pick for the least trustworthy general manager that the league had to offer. In a survey of 33 agents around the league compiled by senior writer Ben Standig of The Athletic, no GM received more votes than Roseman to "win" the title of the least trustworthy in the business.
Here's what the other agents who voted Roseman had to say:
— "He's always playing both sides at all times. He's not dishonest. He's a hedger. Always makes sure he has a side deal."
— "Howie will do what Howie needs to do. I say that with tremendous reverence, but I don’t trust him."
— "This is easy. He tells you one thing and does the opposite. You can tell him something and say it stays with us and then three or four people are hitting me up about what we discussed. It doesn’t make him a bad guy, but there’s no transparency."
In last year's survey, which asked the same question, Roseman only received two votes, though much of the reasoning was consistent.
— "Just look at his career path. He’s pretty much pulled the rug out from underneath everybody that ever got close to him in Philly. And when he does, Howie’s gonna do his best for Howie. He’s proven that year after year after year."
— "He’s very good. He is very good at executing his plan and utilizing the information or the tools or the people or whatever to help him get there. And, you know, he’ll get there at whatever costs that he needs to get to his goal. And I don’t say that he’s not trustworthy, because he’s not a bad dude or a liar or whatever. But you know, he’s just very good at his job."
If you need evidence that getting the most votes for this label may not actually be the worst thing in the world, though, it might help to see that Bill Belichick had the most votes in 2020, with four, and the second most this time around, also with four. Roseman and Belichick viewed similarly by agents, at least in one way, is kind of a cool thing, no?
What's also odd is that, though Roseman didn't get any votes for the "most trustworthy" GM this year, he did get one tally in 2020 for that category. The fact that both of those perspectives existed from agents would seem like rare combination, though Belichick's survey results indicate the same thing. In both surveys, Colts GM Chris Ballard was lauded for his honesty and straightforward approach, at least relative to others in the role, earning many votes as the most trustworthy of the bunch.
Whether or not you're a Roseman fan, it seems like he's here to stay for a little while, and he's developed quite a reputation in getting to where he is.
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