Speaking to the media after the 2020 season ended, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman made it very clear that he deserved the blame.
“This has been a disappointing, embarrassing, frustrating season,” Roseman said. “Obviously, what we've done here, when you win four games, that's on all of us. That's on me.”
Roseman is right — as the top executive on the team, he is to blame. He has final call on all the decisions. He drafted (both) quarterbacks. He helped hire the head coach. He drafted the wide receivers.
The 4-11-1 record is a pretty accurate and fair indication of the job he did. It is a bottom-line business, and the bottom line is the Eagles were a bad football team.
What is also true in a bottom-line business, however, is that overall there aren’t many general managers in the entire NFL that have a better resume than Roseman does right now.
Yes, Roseman’s draft record is frustrating. Yes, he has handed out some bad contracts. But the bottom line is that, taking all of the current general managers in the NFL, there is a strong argument for Roseman’s resume being in the top 10.
To start, Roseman’s resume is a complicated one. He has been a “general manager” since 2010, but did not have personnel control when Andy Reid was the head coach. He also lost control in 2015 when Chip Kelly took over. Excluding those four seasons (2010, 2011, 2012, 2015), Roseman has been the general manager for seven seasons.
In those seven seasons, Roseman is 62-49-1, with a 4-3 record in the playoffs, 1 NFC title and 1 Super Bowl. If you include the years with Reid, he is 84-75, with a 4-4 playoff record, which is actually a lower winning percentage.
There are currently (and obviously) 32 general managers in the NFL, even if not all of them hold the title of general manager. Roseman’s true record as general manager (without Reid or Kelly years) stacks up very favorably.
Of the 32, only seven have won a Super Bowl. Only eight have a better winning percentage than Roseman does in his career. That number jumps to 10 if you include Eric DeCosta of the Baltimore Ravens and Andrew Berry of the Cleveland Browns, although both have been on the job for two-or-fewer seasons, so the comparison is not really fair at this point.
In fact, even if you completely took away the 2017 season — which is obviously unfair but some like to say it was “luck” — Roseman still has the eighth-best winning percentage among general managers.
Even if you take more than the record into account, how many really would go ahead of Roseman? Let’s say all the Super Bowl winners. That is six. Let’s then add in three more — Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst, Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane and Tennessee Titans general manger Jon Robinson. That would leave Roseman 10th.
The other general managers in the discussion? Maybe Les Snead of the Los Angeles Rams. Probably Chris Ballard of the Indianapolis Colts. DeCosta, though young, is in the conversation. If you really want to stretch on potential, Joe Douglas of the Jets.
If you put all of them over Roseman, he still comes in — at worst —14th.
The reality is, however, not all of them are better than Roseman. They haven’t accomplished what he has. Of those 14, five don’t have as many wins as Roseman, and seven don’t have a Super Bowl like Roseman.
Overall, Roseman is somewhere around the top 10. If there was a fantasy draft of general managers, he likely wouldn’t fall outside of the top 10, especially when you take into account age.
So while the anger around Roseman is understandable, it is important to take a step back and realize that overall, there simply are not many general managers in the NFL right now that are better than Roseman.
Below is a full list of the active general managers ranked by their winning percentage, not by how I would rank them. They are divided by those who have won a Super Bowl, those that haven’t, and the general managers still too new to really rank:
*** Note: As with Roseman, not every general manager’s resume is as cut-and-dry as it looks from the outside looking in. I used Roseman’s record without his time with Reid or 2015 included. You could probably do some slight adjusting to other general managers as well in different circumstances **
Super Bowl Winners:
Bill Belichick, Patriots: 274-126 (68%), 31-12 in playoffs, 6 Super Bowls
Kevin Colbert, Steelers: 217-117 (65%), 15-11 in playoffs, 3 AFC titles, 2 Super Bowls
Mickey Loomis, Saints: 178-126 (59%), 9-8 in playoffs, 1 NFC title, 1 Super Bowl
John Schneider, Seahawks: 112-63-1 (64%), 10-8 in playoffs, 2 NFC titles, 1 Super Bowl
Brett Veach, Chiefs: 48-16 (75%), 5-2 in playoffs, 1 Super Bowl
Howie Roseman, Eagles: 62-49-1 (56%), 4-3 in playoffs, 1 NFC Title, 1 Super Bowl
Jerry Jones, Cowboys: 276-236 (54%), 15-12 in playoffs, 3 NFC Titles, 3 Super Bowls
No Super Bowl (ranked by win percentage)
Brian Gutekunst, Packers: 32-15 (68%), 2-1 in playoffs
Brandon Beane, Bills: 38-26 (62%), 2-2 playoffs
Jon Robinson, Titans: 47-33 (59%), 3-3 in playoffs
** Where Howie Would Be in win percentage 49-46 (52%) if you took away 2017 **
David Gettleman, Giants: 66-61-1 (52%), 3-4 in playoffs, 1 NFC title
Les Snead, Rams: 74-69 (52%), 3-3 in playoffs, 1 NFC title
Steve Keim, Cardinals: 65-61-2 (52%), 1-2 in playoffs
Rick Spielman, Vikings: 128-126 (51%), 3-6 in playoffs
Chris Ballard, Colts: 32-32 (50%), 1-2 in playoffs
Chris Grier, Dolphins: 38-42 (48%), 0-1 playoffs
Tom Telesco, Chargers: 60-68 (46%), 2-2 in playoffs
John Lynch, 49ers: 29-35, 2-1 in playoffs (45%), 1 NFC title
Ryan Pace, Bears: 42-54 (44%), 0-1 in playoffs
Mike Brown, Bengals, 192-284 (40%), 0-7 in playoffs
Jason Licht, Buccaneers: 45-67 (40%), 2-0 in playoffs
Still Very New (2 or fewer seasons, ranked by win percentage)
Eric DeCosta, Ravens: 25-7 (78%), 1-2 in playoffs
Andrew Berry, Browns: 11-5 (69%), 1-1 in playoffs
Joe Douglas, Jets: 9-23 (28%), 0-0 in playoffs
Mike Mayock, Raiders: 15-17 (47%)
Brand New:
George Paton, Broncos
Terry Fontenot, Falcons
Trent Baalke, Jaguars
Brad Holmes, Lions
Scott Fitterer, Panthers
Nick Caserio, Texans
Martin Mathew, Washington
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!
