6 takeaways from Howie Roseman's post trade deadline press conference

Shortly after the NFL's trade deadline passed at 4:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Philadelphia Eagles GM Howie Roseman spoke with the media to discuss the three trades that he made, plus a few others that he did not make. Here are my biggest takeaways from that session.

1) What does Howie like about Jaelan Phillips?

Roseman: "With all these guys, the process starts with college, and we spent a lot of time with him coming out of college knowing the person. It's really easy to scout the player. He's got freak ability, he can rush, he can set the edge, he can play in space. He's got a nonstop motor. I think one of the most fun things to do is put on his tape and watch his effort. When you have the athleticism and the physical ability he has with the effort he has, and then just going and seeing that he was Walter Payton Man of the Year in Miami and the things that he does in the community. He comes from an unbelievable family, and then Vic was with him.

"A lot of times, when you're talking to your coaches and you have a vision of how the player is going to fit, you have to have those discussions. But that discussion was really easy with Coach Fangio. Just for us, where we are as a team, what we believe is important to winning a world championship and to being a great team, it really wasn't a hard trade to make."

#JimmySays: There's little doubt Phillips can play. It's just... can he stay healthy?

2) The Eagles a bit of a leap of faith on Philips' injury history.

Roseman: "Obviously, there's no insurance on any of these deals. We gave up a third-round pick, which is a lot of compensation. We really went back, and whenever we make these moves for all three of these players, we’re really doing a deep dive on these guys and not just watching this year, but going back and watching through their career. I’m going back and reminding myself what we thought of them coming out and watching some of them in college, and watching those injuries.

"The Achilles happened on a Black Friday game, I think two years ago, at MetLife Stadium. The ACL was, I think, a teammate kind of went into his leg. So, it wasn't one of those non-contact injuries. Then, just knowing the person and what kind of worker he is, the freak show of an athlete that he is, and seeing the effect that he had on the game this year. Watching him and just seeing the difference that he makes, and really, he's made every time he's been on the field since they drafted him.

"For us, it's so hard to find difference makers as players and as people that -- you don't want to live with regret in this job. I think when we came down to it and had the conversations, the regret would be not doing everything we can to try to maximize the ability of this team to win as many games as we possibly can and give ourselves an opportunity in January and, hopefully, February."

#JimmySays: Phillips tore his Achilles in 2023, and his ACL in 2024. There's not a lot of mystery to those injuries these days, but certainly the Eagles are taking at least a little bit of a gamble that he is past them.

3) Why did Howie make the trades for CB Jaire Alexander and slot CB Michael Carter II?

Roseman: "I think the first half of the season showed us how important corner depth is. We had a bunch of games here where we didn't have our full complement of guys. It's a position that you need to have a bunch of guys here for the amount of games that we're trying to play.

"When these opportunities came about, first with Michael, Michael's another guy that we knew really well coming out of college. Then just like Vic with Jaelan, obviously Joe Douglas is here, and he had a lot of experience with [Carter]. When you go and you watch someone and then you go talk to someone who's been with someone, someone whose opinion you trust, whether it's Vic or [Safeties Coach Joe Kasper] or [Defensive Backs Coach Christian Parker] with Jaire. You see things the same way and they're telling you about the person that makes you more confident in what you're getting.

"What we're really trying to do is we're trying to be able to match up with all kinds of shapes and sizes at the wide receiver position in the secondary. When you have guys who can do that, it just gives you so much flexibility when you're going to play different teams and the different types of receivers they have, different types of tight ends, even backs coming out of the backfield. When you talk about Michael Carter, the guy has played at an elite level inside, so that gives you flexibility there.

"Incredibly sharp guy, Joe Kasper coached him at Duke. He could play safety, which is really important. I think that we've always had that piece of a guy who could play nickel and also come into the game and play safety. Last year, we had that with Avonte, and so it gives that flexibility. Obviously, Coop is an incredible player and somebody who can play really anywhere in the secondary. So, it gives you those matchups.

"With Jaire, I remember when he signed in June with Baltimore thinking what a great signing by them. It didn't work out the way that he wanted or that they wanted or he wouldn't have been available to us. But the relationship we have with Baltimore, being able to have honest conversations and understanding what he went through a little bit in training camp and getting back to health, he obviously missed a lot of time last year.

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"Then just really doing a deep dive on him and how successful he's been, what we thought of him last year when we were in Brazil playing them, and then for the first part of the year. Then, having Christian Parker who's with him and getting to know the mindset of the player.

"Sometimes in this league, you acquire information, you watch everything and you feel like, ‘Hey, the risk is worth the reward here.’ I think when you talk about him still being a young guy, knowing where his health is at now, feeling healthy, feeling good, we felt like the risk was worth the reward with him."

#JimmySays: If you were hoping that the Eagles were going to substantially upgrade on the CB2 options already in place, that is not what they did with these two moves, in my opinion. However, as Roseman points out, the Eagles have had injuries at corner this season, as Quinyon Mitchell, Adoree' Jackson, and Jakorian Bennett have all gotten hurt this year, to varying degrees.

And that's not really new. The Eagles have experienced heavy losses at corner in the past. Like, remember in the 2018 playoffs, when they had Josh Hawkins and Cre'Von LeBlanc trying to cover Saints receivers?

Those two moves give the Eagles more depth and flexibility, but neither player is likely a significant upgrade on Jackson or Kelee Ringo on the outside.

4) Brandon Graham's return, from Howie's perspective

Roseman: "Before the season started and before we went down any path, I called BG -- I'm fortunate really to have special relationships with a bunch of guys here and BG was my first pick. I just reached out and said, ‘Hey, we're in the market for an edge rusher, how are you feeling?’ At the time, he just felt like that wasn't the right timing for him. He hadn’t really contemplated, was doing a bunch of other things, but apparently got his mind started moving a little bit and he started working out a little bit harder.

"When Za’Darius Smith retired, I picked up the phone again and just said, ‘Hey, I'm just reaching out again. I had heard a little bit through the grapevine; you're working out a little bit harder.’ I got that little BG cackle, and that kind of gave me a sense that he wanted to come back. I don't know, maybe he was trying to have our team prove that we were any good and when he saw that we had a chance here, he wanted to take the opportunity. But love having him back. I said to him when he came back, ‘I guess there's going to be a day where we're not going to have you to rely on. I'm just glad that day's not today.’

#JimmySays: The interesting nugget from a football perspective is that BG has been working out hard for a while. It's not as if he's been watching re-runs of SpongeBob on his sofa all day every day since he initially retired.

5) Did the Eagles entertain any trade offers for A.J. Brown?

Roseman: "I would really like to keep this about the guys we acquired, but I think that when you're trying to be a great team, it's hard to trade great players and A.J. Brown's a great player. He wears the ‘C’ for a reason. He's an important part of this team, of this organization. He cares about winning, he cares about his teammates, and I think that when you're a team like ours that is looking forward to an opportunity to compete for a championship, you just don't get rid of guys like that. We feel very lucky to have him on our team and excited about the second half of the season with him."

#JimmySays: It was always extremely unlikely that the Eagles would trade Brown in-season. They have a chance to repeat as Super Bowl champions, and they need Brown to achieve that.

I do think it's at least mildly interesting that Roseman said he was "excited about the second half of the season with him." Not the future in general, but "the second half of the season."

Were Howie's words there intentional? 🤷‍♂️

6) Howie gave non-confirmation confirmation that he pursued trades for Micah Parsons and Myles Garrett

Roseman: "I feel like when there's opportunities to be aggressive for the right players, we're not going to sit on our hands. I don't think that you have great success without taking great risks at times. They’ve got to make sense in terms of the risks that you're taking. We can't be afraid to fail. I think for a lot of times for you to get to the top, that you’ve got to be willing to take chances that may look controversial at times.

"If there was an opportunity to do that, that we thought gave us an opportunity to be the last team standing and put confetti on our heads, we're going to go be aggressive in that direction. I just feel like that's the right way to operate our team. That doesn't come without mistakes. I understand that, but I won't live with regret. I won't live with regret in the way that we operate around here. If we feel passionate about something, if we think the value's right, we're not going to be afraid to pull the trigger."

#JimmySays: It's probably worth showing the video of the interaction, to show how Howie wasn't necessarily answering this question specifically about Parsons or Garrett, but (wink wink) he also sort of was.

Roseman reportedly tried to trade for Garrett last offseason, and now it also appears that he did again at the trade deadline. Pretty good chance he tries again next offseason.

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