Here's Every Other Important Thing Howie Roseman Said at the Season-Ending Press Conference
This post begins with agreement on a take coming from Jamie Lynch and John Kincade at 97.5 the Fanatic. Both believe that the coach + general manager joint press conference amounts to malpractice.
If you watched Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni on Wednesday, they were at the podium together, and you noticed that questions were asked of each person. However, since two guys were lumped into one media availability, it ultimately saturated the press conference to the point where each dude answered fewer questions because of the other person sitting there.
The beat writers did a good job, regardless, and asked the necessary questions, but in an ideal world it’s Howie Roseman up there by himself. He only speaks a few times per year, while Sirianni speaks multiple times per week. We want more Howie and less Nick in that instance, and therefore in the future humbly request that the Eagles PR staff does solo Howie Roseman press conferences from now on.
Thank you.
Anyway, here are some of the notes from that presser that we didn’t write about yesterday, some relevant Howie nuggets worth sharing.
Why does Jalen Reagor stink? (paraphrasing)
“Certainly, heading into year three, expected more from Jalen at this point. We had a chance to sit down with him after the season and had an honest conversation about the things that he needs to develop and the things that we can help him develop to continue his growth, in terms of learning from anything. We have to do that. We have to continue to evolve.”
For clarity, are you going into 2022 with the mindset that Jalen Hurts is QB1?
“Yes. I think for us, we have to do whatever we can to continue to help him develop. And how do we do that? By surrounding him with really good players, players who continue to grow. That’s a huge part of developing, they grow. How they are in their second year is not how they are going to be in year four, five, six and seven. And they are also products of the people around them. That’s on us to continue to build this team.”
Are you going to revert to the pass game instead of being a running team?
“I think our goal is to win as many games as possible, and however that comes about is something that makes us happy. I don’t think I’ve ever walked into the locker room unhappy with a win. I think Coach and his staff do a great job of fitting to the personnel. It’s kind of ironic because a year ago today was our first meeting with Coach and one of the things he said that really won us over is his scheme is going to be dependent on the players and personnel and he was going to utilize our personnel in the way that they would be able to maximize their talents and for us to win games.”
Fletcher Cox was almost traded at the deadline, what’s his future looking like?
“I think, first of all, it’s our job to listen to everything and see if there are ways to improve our team. Obviously, Fletcher is a great player, and teams where we were at the deadline were making calls. And for us, it’s important. Our priorities are always going to be along the line of scrimmage, and obviously having him and [DT Javon] Hargrave, and you see the growth from [DT] Milton [Williams] inside, that’s a huge part of our defense and a huge part of our priorities.”
Give us an update on Brandon Brooks and Brandon Graham –
“Starting with Brandon [Brooks], we had a lot of communication with Brandon. It was really important for us to make sure that Brandon Brooks ended the season healthy and to make sure that he had an off-season where he was healthy, and he wasn’t rehabbing. That is the extent of our communication. I met with him at the end of the season, and you’re talking about one of the greatest players, one of the greatest guards in the history of the franchise. I have tremendous respect for him as a player and as a person. Those are the conversations we’ve had with Brandon up to this point.
In terms of BG, we miss BG. We miss BG the player, and there is nobody who can replace BG, the person, the leader that he is as well. We know he’s attacking this rehab. We see him every day around here. And he has a chip on his shoulder, and we do see a role for him going forward, and we are excited to get him back next year. He’s a huge part of our football team.”
Howie actually wrapped it up by thanking the fans, which was nice. That doesn’t always resonate, but just giving them a shout out is a basic thing to do and can go a long way.
Now on to the draft, and addressing team needs in 2022.