Howie Roseman met with the media after the Eagles traded out of the first round by sending the No. 32 overall pick and a 2018 fourth-round pick to the Baltimore Ravens for a 2018 second-round pick (No. 52 overall), a 2018 fourth-round pick, and a 2019 second-round selection. Here's the entire transcript:
HOWIE ROSEMAN: Alright, guys. So, we traded pick 32 for pick 52, a second-round pick in 2019 and we flopped fourth-round picks. We felt like the value was right for us, where we are as a football team; where the value was in this draft. There are a bunch of players that we still like that we're optimistic and excited to get tomorrow. And then we'll start working on that right now.
Q. How much have you looked ahead into the 2019 draft and how strong that is in comparison to this one? (Jimmy Kempski)
HOWIE ROSEMAN: Well, when you look ahead, it's always hard to know exactly how it's going to be. People are going to come out, players change. When we looked ahead last year at this draft – and we talked about this on many occasions – a lot of variables change. But we thought the strengths of the draft next year were different than the strengths of this draft. And where this draft is strong, it continues to be strong until tomorrow. So, it gets us an opportunity to still get a good player, possibly, but more importantly, also continue to build. For us, we want to win this year, but we want to continue to win. We want to win in 2018; we want to win in 2019; in 2020.
There are not many times that you get an opportunity to move back in a draft and pick up second-round picks, so for us, we thought it was the right value.
Q. Did you go into tonight thinking that most likely trading back was going to be your number-one option? (Jeff McLane)
HOWIE ROSEMAN: When we've been in this situation and gone into a draft thinking that we're just going to trade back, it's hard to find willing partners. When we kind of go through these scenarios and say, 'Well, maybe the team at 29 takes that trade, maybe the team at 30 takes that [trade], maybe at 31.' So, we were expecting to pick at 32, and we had some guys that we really liked that were on the board, and I think what happened is that you see as the round goes and you start getting calls and guys like guys, and as guys go off, some teams bow out, some teams come back in.
So, we just had to weigh all those things, but we did not come into tonight thinking we were going to trade out. We had gone through the scenarios of what we would trade out for. And we wouldn't have traded out just to trade out, because we did think there was good value at 32.
Q. You traded with the Ravens, but how much interest was there in that 30-second window? (Dave Zangaro)
HOWIE ROSEMAN: There was a bunch of phone calls. There was actually … It's interesting. As you go through and as you get closer to your pick and guys get excited about guys, and you have some teams that bow out and they'll call you after a pick and say, 'That was our guy. We're out.' And then you'll have guys come in. So, we just try to keep track of that. Our staff does a great job of trying to keep track of all the offers we've gotten, we put them together. And we just felt like this was a really good trade for both teams – for the Ravens, as well. But for the way we're trying to build, it was important that we get more resources going forward.
Q. Was Lamar Jackson a guy that you felt that if he fell to you would attract interest? (Paul Domowitch)
HOWIE ROSEMAN: We did. We had a list of guys that we thought that if they possibly fell could attract interest. Again, our concern is just that when you are picking 32, are people making the same offers at 31, 30, and 29. And some of those teams ahead of us have a history of trading out too.
So we were prepared to pick, but we are also excited about the opportunity tomorrow, Saturday and really we are starting to get a bunch of picks for 2019. So we are excited about that as well.
Q. So are you at nine picks for next year? (Jimmy Kempski)
HOWIE ROSEMAN: How do I answer that question?
Q. Yes or no. (Jimmy Kempski)
HOWIE ROSEMAN: I don't know, because of the compensatory picks. I don't know.
Q. Minus the compensatory picks? (Jimmy Kempski)
HOWIE ROSEMAN: Minus the compensatory picks … we have an extra seventh, we have an extra two right? Yeah. Is this a trick question? I feel like I'm getting tricked and Jimmy's going to put this trick algebra formula that I messed up and I don't know our picks. [Laughter]
Q. In talking with us the other day, you said there were 32 guys you had to be comfortable with. How many of them are still on the board? (Zach Berman)
HOWIE ROSEMAN: Do I have to give the answers to the test? We had a group of guys at 32 that we would have been excited about picking. Will they be there at 52? I don't know. But that helped us make the trade because we felt like there was a cluster of guys that were grouped together for us. We had an order of them, and we were ready to pick.
But we're excited about going back and seeing if we can make some of that magic happen tomorrow.
Q. Were there other offers at 32 when you were on the clock? Were you balancing this with other offers? (Bo Wulf)
HOWIE ROSEMAN: Yes. I think our balance was the short-term versus the long-term on the trade offers, and we decided that it's just too hard to get a second-round pick. When we look at the draft, the difference in value when you're picking in the second round, versus even when you're picking in the third round, it's too good. It gives you a lot of flexibility. We're excited. Our draft room is really excited to be able to get this.
Q. Did you hope to prioritize getting more value as opposed to drafting more players this year when you have a chance to go back to the Super Bowl? (Dave Zangaro)
HOWIE ROSEMAN: We still have a chance to go back to the Super Bowl. So I think for us, we don't want to totally be short term. At the end of the day, a second-round pick is a second-round pick. So if someone's offering a third-round pick in this year and it's the middle of the third round, even if you're getting a second-round pick a year later, we're not necessarily just taking down the value because it's a year later. A second-round pick is still a second-round pick. We've just got to wait for it.
Q. How did this specific trade come about? Did you talk to the Ravens leading up to the draft about this specific scenario or did they just call? (Sheil Kapadia)
HOWIE ROSEMAN: I say these are like --- [General Manager and Executive Vice President of the Baltimore Ravens] Ozzie [Newsome] and I have a summer house in Orange Beach. So these are like the Orange-Beach-summer-house conversations. So we kind of had a thought from all the conversations we have. Obviously, the relationships go back and forth.
We knew that they were interested in adding fire power, and so we knew there were certain players that if they were on the board, the phone was going to ring, and it rang.
Again, they weren't the only offer. We were weighing their offer versus other offers, and we're excited there was some good value for that pick.
Q. Was there any one guy that you were disappointed that you didn't get, that kind of fell off and maybe that influenced the trade? (Chris Murray)
HOWIE ROSEMAN: Do we count guys that went in the top 10? [laughter]
Q. Yeah, well, besides the Top 10. (Chris Murray)
HOWIE ROSEMAN: No, I think we had a pretty good sense of what was going to be there at 32. There's always guys when you get into the twenties that you're kind of crossing your fingers and hoping fall to 32. But I don't think hope is a great strategy.
So we knew that it was probably not realistic and we felt like we had a firm handle. Our scouting department does a great job preparing for this moment. So we felt like we had a firm handle of what was realistically going to be there. Of course, there are guys that go before you pick, that you'd be excited to take and you're disappointed, but that's the nature of the draft.
Q. Were you surprised by anything that happened tonight before you guys picked? (Jeff McLane)
HOWIE ROSEMAN: Yeah, I mean, there's always surprises. Because your boards are different than everyone else's boards. Everyone sees things differently. There are always picks that you kind of look at and went, 'Wow. We had him later than that.' But I'm not thinking of anything off the top of my head that was really glaring.
Q. If you're willing to answer, what are the strengths of the draft going in to Day 2? (Zach Berman)
HOWIE ROSEMAN: It's interesting. When you preface a question with, 'Are you willing to answer,' you've given the out to say, 'No.' So I just should say no.
I think when you look at it, the strengths of the draft that came into the draft come into play even more so after you get past the first round. You know [this], Zach, [because] you've studied the draft for a long time: there are certain positions that go that are just hard to get after you pick, not only in the first round, but really the first 15 to 20 picks. So that wasn't probably the strength of the draft to begin with.
This is like a Rubik's Cube puzzle that I'm giving you. The strengths that we felt were there before, are the reasons we made this trade back. Because we felt like what we were going to get at 32 was going to be a strength throughout tomorrow, as well. So let's go add a second-round pick for next year and still have an opportunity to maybe add to our team.
