Howie Roseman's Job Security Has Unintended Consequences

PHILADELPHIA – For the most part, Howie Roseman’s job security is a secret weapon for the Philadelphia Eagles.

A longer rope allows Roseman to think bigger picture and more long-term than most of his peers, who are often GM-ing for their jobs and forced to act with an eye toward immediacy.

In last month’s draft, by all accounts stocked with less talent in the pond due to the emergence of NIL and the transfer portal at the college level, Roseman was able to supplement his draft haul by adding three 2025 picks, third-, fourth-, and fifth-round selections.

Eagles GM Howie Roseman John McMullen/Eagles Today

To many other GMs kicking draft picks down the road isn’t considered because if their current class doesn’t produce, someone else will use those selections. The idea being if you’re going down, you might as well go down swinging.

A good example of that is in Minnesota where GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has morphed from analytical darling consumed with volume to recklessly trading future draft capital In just two years in an attempt to keep up with divisional rivals that are perceived to have lapped him.

In dealing up to secure J.J. McCarthy and Dallas Turner, the Vikings have just three picks for 2025 that will be supplemented by one projected compensatory selection.

The reason for that approach can be traced to Adofo-Mensah already being on the clock when it comes to his job security. A second consecutive poor season could mean unemployment.

Roseman typically dislikes when his job security is broached because he wants to send the right signals in a public-facing industry.

“I would say this: My only goal is to win as much as I possibly can, and if I’m not good at that, I shouldn’t be sitting in this seat,” Roseman said. “That’s the only thing I think about. I think, ‘How do I put this team in position?’”

There are two masters, however.

“I also feel like it’s my job. I’m a caretaker in this franchise. I’m not going to be here forever. And I think it’s my job to make sure that I leave this franchise in a better place than when I got it,” he said. “… So, everything that I’m trying to do is to make sure that the bottom doesn’t fall out; that we are not in position where we have to sustain a rebuilding time. We are always trying to retool.

“And how do you do that? You get out in front of problems. That’s how I think about it.”

The vast majority of Roseman’s certainty with the organization is positive. However, there are always unintended consequences to even the best business plans.

The most obvious with Roseman is that his underlings in football operations and the scouting department have ceilings to their careers in Philadelphia.

In an ambition-driven business, the goal is to become a GM and that’s not happening at the NovaCare Complex, something that inevitably results in valued employees leaving to advance their careers.

Already, Roseman’s friend and long-time right-hand man on the contract front, VP of Football Administration Jake Rosenberg, is set to leave the organization in an attempt to take the next step toward his ultimate goal of being a GM.

“I don’t know that I’ve really dealt with Jake’s departure. I’m going to miss him,” Roseman said. “Obviously very close relationship. He’s someone I rely on and off the field. I think that we have people in place, but to me he’s irreplaceable, just the person he is and what he brings to this team. That doesn’t mean that we don’t have really good people, but yeah, I’ll miss him.”

Meanwhile, well-regarded director of scouting Brandon Hunt is interviewing for the de facto GM job with New England.

Things like that may seem like the problems of the privileged but it also requires a steady stream of repopulating secondary football executive roles.