There have been quite a few articles written this week about how the Philadelphia Eagles' extension of Zach Ertz — mixed with other core players who reportedly having extensions looming — gives the impression that vice president of football operations Howie Roseman is back in charge of personnel.
As we passed along this afternoon, the Eagles are expected to interview Pittsburgh Steelers executive Brandon Hunt for what has been deemed their "director of player personnel" role. However, this role appears as if it will make the eventual candidate hired a voice in the "collaborative process" that owner Jeffrey Lurie has alluded to. It doesn't appear that it will lead to Roseman looking up at anyone (maybe with the exception of Lurie) in the front-office.
According to Matt Lombardo of NJ Advance Media, Roseman is 'extra happy to be back in the saddle', which doesn't speak to someone who is about to be pushed back aside.
"He is nothing if not aggressive," a league source who requested anonymity told NJ Advance Media of Eagles Vice President of Football Operations Howie Roseman. "He's extra glad to be back in the saddle."
My work was probably critical of the idea of giving Roseman back front-office power, or keeping him in the organization at all, before it became popular to do so, and long before the unlikely idea seemingly became reality. But at the same time, that opinion stemmed more from Roseman's reported inability to co-exist with nearly anyone that he's ever worked with and less because of how he evaluated talent.
Make no mistake, Roseman hasn't been an elite talent evaluator in the past, but he has been credited with a fair share of nice trades and signings. So him being back in control from that aspect may be less of a nightmare scenario then some seem to believe. Frankly, the plan that is currently being executed, one that involves locking up the top talents that the team has before trying to build onto it, seems to be a sound one.
But how Roseman's second chance at leading the front-office, assuming that is what transpires, goes will largely depend on whether he develops the ability to check his ego at times and work better with others than he has in the past. That's the only way he's ever going to be able to build the Eagles past just being a good team.
Tim Kelly (@TimKellySports) is an editorial assistant for Eagledelphia.com.
