Swoop
Well-known member
- Mar 19, 2019
- 2,033
- 0
Getty Images
When the Eagles had quarterback Carson Wentz on that cheap rookie contract, it was easy to trade draft picks for veteran help to insulate him.
Now that they’re actually paying him, they’re recognizing the need to balance the books with some rookie-scale contracts.
“Going forward, we need to infuse youth in this team,” General Manager Howie Roseman said, via Dave Zangaro of NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com. “We think we’re going to have 10 draft picks in the draft. We’re excited about that.”
The Eagles had one of the oldest rosters in the league last year (only the Patriots and Falcons were older), and they’ve only drafted 10 players total the last two years, as they were clearly in a win-now mode.
“We have a lot to do going forward,” Roseman said. “When we look at our team from 2017 to 2019, we knew that we had one team. Really, a team that we were going to basically stick with. We didn’t have a lot of resources in terms of draft picks. That’s on me.”
Seeing some young players buoy them late in the season was also a metaphor, as they tried to run Darrren Sproles out there one last time before he got hurt and Boston Scott ever got a chance.
“It’s a great lesson. You have to let young players play,” Roseman said. “It’s natural for us to want to have a safety net at every position. We have to allow these young players to play and get some experience. Just the energy they injected into the team and obviously the production that they had. We have to balance that.”
That means Roseman will need to change some habits he’s built over recent years. But the recognition is an important step in that process.