There was a Doug Pederson quote from Monday’s press conference that sort of well by the wayside.

The Eagles head coach was asked by Rob Maaddi how he felt about his role in the personnel department, and if it’s something he wanted to evaluate, the idea of having more input in that area.

Here’s what Doug had to say:

“I want to be a part of the solution. I want to be a part of the evaluation process. I want to be a voice that’s heard, and I want to have that collaborative communication with Howie and his staff and be a part of that process.

I don’t necessarily want to cross that line because it takes you away from doing your job as the head football coach. I like being on the football side of things as a former football player and obviously now a coach. That’s where my passion lies.

But yet, I want to be part of the solution. I want to help evaluate and help bring guys in here that can help us win.”

That seems like a straightforward answer to me. It’s Howie Roseman’s job, but he’d like to be part of the process. He’d like to have input and have a say, even if his focus is on coaching the team.

Today, Wednesday, Pederson was asked to clarify that, because I guess it might have been open to interpretation, and here’s how the exchange went:


Les Bowen: You spoke Monday at the end of your session about wanting to have some say in how personnel is evaluated in the draft and things like that. I just wanted to clarify; are you talking about more say than you’ve had up until now? Or what can you tell us about that?

Doug: “Yeah, don’t misunderstand what I was saying. Our process here is, obviously we lean on the scouting department, Howie and his department and our scouts in the evaluation process. My staff also evaluates these players as well. I evaluate the players as well. All I’m saying is that it’s a collaborative effort, something where we talk and discuss. I don’t want to cross that line. My side is the football side. I want to coach football, that’s what I love to do, but at the same time I want to make sure that my staff is doing the right thing. We’re evaluating the players that can help us. That’s all I’m saying there. I don’t want to cross that line at all.”

Well maybe they should cross the line. Maybe Doug and his staff should pick the players, because Howie hasn’t done a great job of it over the last several seasons. The Super Bowl year is looking more and more like an outlier.

One more game and then the season is over. Maybe there will be changes in the “choosing personnel” area… or maybe not.