I hear what Eagles G.M. Howie Roseman keeps saying on behalf of his owner Jeff Lurie—“We’re out to restore personnel stability to this team like we had in the years 2000-2008…and like good franchises like the Steelers and the Packers and the Patriots and the Seahawks always seem to maintain…”
But I read between the lines as well— Howie and Jeff want the Eagles to win a Super Bowl trophy as early as possible in what’s left of this decade as they can.
So do I. And they figure their best chance is to lock down as many of their proven farm system and trade/free agent signing success stories as they can for their projected 3-to-4 year haul for a run at the NFC Championship title and a trip to the Super Bowl.
That’s one way to approach the goal.
Winning a Super Bowl is the team’s ultimate goal— getting to a point of annual qualification for the playoffs is the preliminary goal of what Howie is really talking about—at least, publicly.
You want to be known as a successful franchise which goes all the way with its best and most loyal veteran players still under contract? Welp, winning at least one league championship in the next three to five years would be a requirement. Step one would be winning our first playoff game since 2008.
So Howie’s public declaration of “stability” as the Eagles’ team goal does not tell the whole story of the organization’s desperation to win big in Lurie’s lifetime.
Our resident Chairman of the Bored GK Brizer speaks to the issue:
“Stability ? = guaranteed money tied up a pretty long time , more or less, wiff faith in the outcome…”
So if true, we are asked as fans by Howie Roseman to have faith in the way he has circled the wagons of known talent and added the young gunslinger Carson Wentz as lookout against Apache night raids…
BEANSTALKER, he of the Great Down Under, had an equally specific take on the subject of “team stability”:
“I think it is really about being all over the things he CAN control. Which is really being able to have Choices within the Cap. Sign a free agent…eat dead money….keep your Star players happy…finding reliable coaches and scouts etc.”
“Stability through Depth and contingency plans…I also keep trying to think like corporate businessmen think, that don’t really know footy, but know how to manage an Empire… They will get the cash side of it right, for sure. Go through the list of guys on the fringe of breaking out who AREN’T signed to lengthy contracts already. Bennie Logan is a big one…Ron Brooks was another unproven one…. Oh and Nolan Carroll deserves a decent payday if he gets 100% healthy, I really feel for the guy getting hurt, because surely he was in line for a good if not great extension.”
I guess my main point is none of the “stability” really matters if you don’t win big during the course of the big contract extensions.
“I think it says a lot when they’re signing the guys that are in that locker room,” Fletcher Cox said about the Eagles front office. “They believe in the guys that are in the locker room. They want to continue to grow with them and continue to build around them.”
There had been “so much change here” during Kelly’s three-year tenure, G.M. Howie Roseman said. “One of the things when you’re trying to build something, you need people to be secure in how they feel.”
Earlier in the offseason, the Eagles negotiated new contracts with tight ends Zach Ertz (five years, $42.5 million, $21 million guaranteed) and Brent Celek (two years, $8 million, $6 million guaranteed), offensive tackle Lane Johnson (five years, $56.25 million, $35.5 million guaranteed), defensive end Vinny Curry (five years, $46.25 million, $23 million guaranteed) and safety Malcolm Jenkins (four years, $30 million, $21 million guaranteed).
Roseman acknowledged that the 2015 Eagles were, at 7-9, a disappointment.
“We didn’t exactly win the Super Bowl,” Roseman said. But his belief is that keeping a promising core group together and adding to it is the right way to build a championship-caliber team.
“Looking at our whole offseason,” Roseman said, “having all these guys that we’ve drafted or have signed in here and who fit our system, our style, in our opinion, that’s the message of the offseason.
“When you look at the majority of guys that we’ve signed, they’re second-contract guys. They’re 25 or 26. … When you look at the Giants, the Steelers, the Colts, the Patriots, the Packers, the Seahawks — they have a core group of guys that they’re building with together. They’re going through things together that strengthens your team and strengthens your bond.”
These Eagles player contracts on offense expire after 2016: Running backs Darren Sproles and Kenjon Barner and wide receivers Rueben Randle and Chris Givens.
These player contracts on defense expire after 2016: Defensive tackle Bennie Logan and cornerback Nolan Carroll.
Everyone else is signed and sealed at least through 2017.
“We’re trying to build something that lasts… and having continuity and having building blocks and adding to them,” said Howie Roseman.
“For us to become a really good team over a period of time, we needed this base of really good players. And when you have the guys in your building, when you are with them every day, when you see what they can do, there is less of a guessing game going forward than there is when you are taking guys from other organizations (in free agency).”
“We wanted to keep the good guys we already have together and build on top of it,” Roseman said. “The other thing that adds into it is we don’t have the same amount of (draft) picks that we’ve had, so the more places that we can fill going forward, the better off we’ll be.”
“We’re hoping that this investment that we made this year will allow us to not invest as much going forward, because we have these guys locked up. We do things like look at our depth chart in 2018, 2019 and I know sometimes that’s hard, but for us to have a run of sustained success we have to have a lot of good players on our team in those years,” Roseman said.
Meanwhile Fletcher Cox reacted to the expectations that he will continue to a real team leader on defense:
“I have high expectations for myself,” he explained. “All I can be is Fletcher Cox and be really humble about it. Come to practice every day, show up every day and let my teammates know that I’m there for them and that I’m willing to do anything to help this organization win football games week in and week out.”
“I just look at it as being more vocal on and off the field with the younger guys and always stepping up and being that guy who steps up when everybody else kind of doesn’t want to. When the team is down and they need somebody to bring them up, I need to be the guy to do that. … I just need to continue to compete and learn, and being coachable is a big thing.”
“Just continue to be yourself,” Fletcher said when asked about playing under the increased spotlight of a new contract. “I always preach to myself to just continue to be yourself and don’t try to be somebody that you’re not and just support the people who support you.”
Speaking of continuity and stability, the team is planning to stay the course when it comes to special teams. Doug Pederson retained special-teams coach Dave Fipp, whose units were consistently strong during Kelly’s three-year tenure. Pederson reportedly gave a motivational speech to the rookies attending minicamp last week regarding the importance of special teams:
“And my message, too, to these guys, to all the young players, is that special teams becomes a big part of their success,” Pederson said, “especially early on in their careers and how they can make a roster based upon their performance on special teams.”
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