Howie Roseman and Joe Douglas have each other on speed dial from their days working together in the Philadelphia Eagles’ front office. With that information in mind, there is no shortage of rumors linking the New York Jets from trying to pull one over on the Eagles.
Roseman has a well-earned reputation for shaking things up on draft day, and he’s likely shopping around at least one of his first-round picks. Pro Football Focus’ Brad Spielberger noted the Roseman-Douglas connection in a recent trade scenario that has the Jets making a deal with the Chicago Bears. By doing so, New York can select Georgia stud Jalen Carter at pick No. 9, leap-frogging right over the Eagles at pick No. 10 and stealing away the premium pass rusher that Roseman has been rumored to be coveting.
Spielberger wrote: “Philadelphia already brought Carter in for a pre-draft visit, and the team traded up in the first round last year to take his Georgia teammate in nose tackle Jordan Davis. Jets general manager Joe Douglas was the Eagles’ vice president of player personnel from 2016-2019, so he knows as well as anyone how much Philadelphia values its defensive line.”
Carter brings some baggage to the table, but there is no denying his talent. The Eagles have become a trendy destination for Carter to land due to his ties with Jordan Davis and Nakobe Dean. The trio were college teammates at Georgia where Davis was seen as a mentor of sorts, or a guy who could keep Carter “in line.”
Howie Roseman Named Top Executive in Football
Eagles general manager Howie Roseman hit all the right notes last offseason on his way to the franchise’s second Super Bowl appearance in five years. He’s gone about things in a similar fashion this year by stacking draft picks and exploring low-risk, high-reward players in free agency. No one knows for sure what he’s going to do on draft day, but he’s probably going to be aggressive.
For all those reasons, Roseman was named the top front-office executive in football by NFL Media’s Gregg Rosenthal. He edged out Kansas City’s Brett Veach and Cincinnati’s Duke Tobin for the honor. Rosenthal broke Roseman’s genius down like this:
Most importantly, Roseman has nailed bringing in players just about to hit their prime, such as A.J. Brown, Haason Reddick and Javon Hargrave (the latter of whom left for San Francisco this offseason). They recognize value, whether that means scooping up James Bradberry late last offseason or finding a way to keep him and Darius Slay this time around. Hurts’ looming big contract will test Roseman’s flexibility, but this is a front office that finds answers.
Nick Sirianni Rings Ceremonial Bell at Sixers Game
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni was in attendance at Saturday afternoon’s first-round playoff game between the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets. In fact, the Sixers trotted him out to ring the ceremonial Liberty Bell ahead of tip-off. The home crowd was pumped to see him and Sirianni encouraged them to get loud by raising his hands in the air.
Sirianni, of course, is a huge basketball fan. He even joked about giving Joel Embiid some lessons on ball security after the Sixers big man was spotted playing catch on the sideline at an Eagles game last year.
“If you’re carrying a ball around our facility, we don’t care who you are, we’ll tell you that it wasn’t good enough,” Sirianni said. “I think Embiid was playing catch on the sideline yesterday and there were a couple things I didn’t like about his ball security. I would’ve said something to him.”
Jets Predicted to Steal ‘Premium Talent’ from Eagles in Blockbuster Trade