PHILADELPHIA – It’s Bijan or bust for many around the Delaware Valley when it comes to next week’s draft.
For those who know Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, however, the thought process is a bit more substantive.
Former Tampa Bay general manager and current SiriusXM NFL radio draft analyst Mark Dominik speculated on Roseman’s plan at No. 10 overall less than 24 hours after the Eagles GM worked out a deal with Jalen Hurts that made the quarterback the highest-paid player in league history at a $51 million average annual value.
“I smile when I think of Howie Roseman,” said Dominik, who broke as a GM at virtually the same time as Roseman and Seattle GM John Schneider. “… we were the aggressive young guns at time, wanting to not be stodgy in terms of well you don’t take other people’s practice squad players, you don’t move around in the draft, you stick to everything you’re supposed to do because that’s what you’re supposed to do.
“Howie has absolutely blown that up. He has done an excellent job of positioning this football team with four picks in the top 100 and two in the first round when you have your quarterback of the future secured.”
In the wake of the historic Hurts deal, however, Dominik doesn’t believe Roseman will be playing it safe.
“It’s hard for me to think Howie will stand pat,” the 20-year personnel executive said while discussing the draft on a conference call with JAKIB Sports and other NFL reporters. “He just doesn’t usually do that. My gut instinct is he’s going to, if these quarterbacks come off the board, I think he’s going to make a move to go get one of these defensive players.”
The defensive players Dominik is speaking of are edge rushers Will Anderson of Alabama and Tyree Wilson of Texas Tech, along with Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter.
“I think he’s gotta have a plan if something pops, now’s the time to go get one, to get one more pass rusher to get us over the top so we can win that championship in 2023,” said Dominik.
Over the past two years while the Eagles were supervising the development of Hurts, Roseman was cognizant of building up draft capital in case the organization was going to have to get into a position to draft a QB. Now that Hurts solidified his status in the league with a runner-up for MVP performance in 2022-23, there is no need to play it cautious, according to Dominik.
“I think he’s more likely to move up than he is to pull back now that he’s certain of Jalen Hurts,” Dominik explained. “Because I think he kept doing this to get the ammunition in case he needs the pick for next year and now he doesn’t need that pick, so I think he’s going to be more aggressive moving up the boards than moving back.”
