Getty Howie Roseman, Executive Vice President of Football Operations for the Philadelphia Eagles, looks on prior to the game against the Denver Broncos at Lincoln Financial Field on November 5, 2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Philadelphia Eagles have won a Super Bowl, and their executive vice president of football operations, Howie Roseman, deserves a good deal of the credit in many people’s minds.
The Eagles were in a rebuilding stage after they fired coach Chip Kelly. Although Roseman initially was perceived as losing a power battle with Kelly (and his GM title), he seized back the reins of the franchise and, functionally, the GM position and that paved the pathway to Super Bowl LII and victory.
Sports Illustrated called Roseman part of the Eagles’ brain trust. Most people say that Roseman deserves a lot of the credit for the team’s monumental successes in 2018. His biography is an interesting one, the proverbial “starting in the mail room” sort of story with a happy ending.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Howie Roseman Started as an Unpaid Intern in the Eagles Organization
Jordan Hicks #58 of the Philadelphia Eagles talks to general manager Howie Roseman on the bench prior to the game against the New York Giants at Lincoln Financial Field on September 24, 2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Super Bowl victory with Roseman as Eagles GM has been a long time coming. Howie Roseman has spent his entire career with the Eagles. He started as an intern, at the lowest level of the food chain and worked his way up through the organization. At one time, he was the youngest GM in the league.
In 2014, The Bleacher Report noted that Howie Roseman was the only GM in the National Football League under the age of 40. His ascendancy was remarkable for its rapidity. “…less than 15 years ago, he was working as an unpaid intern at the bottom of the Philadelphia Eagles’ corporate ladder,” wrote Bleacher Report. “Less than 20 years ago, he and current Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch were dreaming of their wildly unrealistic NFL futures as football fanatical roommates at the University of Florida.”
Roseman got his internship job with persistence, and he’s risen above challenges at higher levels with the Eagles due to the same trait. The site notes that Roseman once “sent over 1,000 letters to NFL teams before finally landing an internship with the Eagles.”
2. He Suffered What Some Describe as an Exile, But It Didn’t Last Long
Head coach Doug Pederson of the Philadelphia Eagles talks with general manager Howie Roseman before a game against the Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field on January 1, 2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Howie Roseman suffered a setback in 2015 in a career marked by setbacks and determination. In 2015, he was “stripped of his player personnel responsibilities,” reported NJ.com.
The Sporting News describes what happened this way: Roseman “worked with owner Jeff Lurie to hire Chip Kelly as coach in 2013, and two years later, Kelly gained full control of football operations at Roseman’s expense. Stripped of his GM title, Roseman was demoted to cap and contract guy.” However, things didn’t go well for Kelly, and a year later he was fired, with Roseman back as VP. That started the current path to success in motion.
Although labeled a demotion, Howie Roseman was given the title of Executive Vice President of Football Operations, with his annual salary actually rising from $1.5 million to $1.7 million, the newspaper reported. “… there was no question he was the loser in a power struggle with former head coach Chip Kelly,” according to USA Today. But there was no question that, in the end, only Roseman was still standing.
Rather than becoming disgruntled, Roseman used what some call his “exile” to reflect, USA Today reports, quoting him as saying, “When you have a year where you’re away from the daily grind of what you’re doing, you have a chance to think differently about your relationships or what you’re doing on a daily basis.” Obviously, he put the time to good use. Once he was back in charge, according to USA Today, he prioritized “bold moves” along with the goal of getting a quarterback in place.
Now, Roseman can join the Eagles in bringing home a Super Bowl trophy.
3. Roseman Thinks It’s Important to Take Risks
Howie Roseman.
Roseman has explained why he thinks it’s important for football teams to take risks. This attribute can explain some of his key personnel moves, which some might have questioned at the time but which look pretty great in retrospect now that the Eagles vanquished the New England Patriots (and Tom Brady) in the Super Bowl.
“I don’t know if it’s conscious that we’re just trying to be out of the box just to be out of the box, although maybe at times it seems that way,” Roseman said, according to The New York Post. “I think it’s hard to be really good in the National Football League. Sometimes you got to take risks, especially … when you’re middle of the pack and you’re not picking in the top five, it’s hard.”
One key move: Securing a strong backup quarterback, Nick Foles, who was able to step in (and then some) when starter Carson Wentz was injured. “We put a lot of resources there and walked out of the season, and we looked on that field and we had hope that one day we had the guy who would lead us to this moment. Of course it’s worked out exactly as we thought it would go,” Roseman joked to USA Today.
The Eagles bio for Roseman describes some of his moves. “Roseman has overseen the reshaping of a roster that included two separate trades that allowed the Eagles to move up in the first round of the 2016 NFL draft to select North Dakota State QB Carson Wentz,” the bio reads. “Eight days prior to the start of the 2016 regular season, Roseman executed another trade that sent QB Sam Bradford to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for a 2017 first-round pick, which the Eagles used to select Tennessee’s Derek Barnett, and a 2018 fourth-round pick. Prior to the 2016 and 2017 season, Roseman continued to solidify the team’s core by retaining key veterans while adding to the team through free agency and the draft.”
4. Roseman’s Wife Mindy Worked for Lehman Brothers
Howie Roseman.
Roseman married Mindy Friedman in 2005. According to the wedding announcement in The New York Times, Howie Roseman is “the son of Rhona Bernstein and Steven Roseman, both of Marlboro, N.J. Rabbi P. Irving Bloom officiated.”
Mindy Roseman, then, 27, was managing “the investment-banking analyst program at Lehman Brothers in Manhattan,” at the time of the couple’s marriage, the Times reported, adding that Mindy “graduated from New York University. Her father is the chairman and president of Associated Estates Realty Corporation, a real estate investment trust in Richmond Heights, Ohio.”
5. Howie Roseman’s Father Worked in Education & His Mother Ran a Clothing Store
Howie Roseman.
Roseman comes from an accomplished but middle class family, and he has a law degree.
Howie Roseman was 30 at the time of the marriage, according to the wedding announcement, which says he “graduated from the University of Florida and received a law degree from Fordham. His mother owns a women’s clothing boutique bearing her name in Manalapan, N.J. His father, who retired as an assistant principal at Tottenville High School in Staten Island, is now an educational consultant specializing in school security for the New York City Department of Education.”