ORLANDO -- Howie Roseman isn't one to make a big deal about winning individual awards. He actually deflects attention in those instances, as he did earlier in the year when named the Pro Football Writers' NFL Executive of the Year. But the award he won on Tuesday at the NFL Annual Meeting in Orlando was something special: Roseman was named in a vote by league executives the 2017 Sporting News NFL Executive Of The Year.
Votes were cast by Roseman's league peers in the first week of January in 2018.
"I've said this before that what we do is a direct result of the support we get from Jeffrey Lurie and the organization," Roseman said in an interview on Monday. "We are all in this thing together and we all play our part. The reward is the team's success."
Certainly, the team's success in the 2017 regular season and the postseason was historic as the Eagles won their first Super Bowl. Roseman and his personnel staff, including vice president of player personnel Joe Douglas, had a huge role in the season, artfully navigating the free-agency landscape, making timely trades and acquiring players in creative ways – signing rookie placekicker Jake Elliott off the Bengals' practice squad, for example, to replace the injured Caleb Sturgis – to build a championship roster.
In free agency, the Eagles signed players like wide receivers Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith, quarterback Nick Foles, running back LeGarrette Blount, defensive end Chris Long and cornerback Patrick Robinson. Roseman traded with Baltimore to acquire defensive tackle Tim Jernigan in the spring and then added running back Jay Ajayi in a mid-season deal with Miami. He was able to sign both Jeffery and Jernigan to long-term deals.
Remarkably, virtually every player added contributed in a big way to the Super Bowl season. As the personnel department brought in the players, the coaching staff then put the players in positions to be successful.
That doesn't happen very often in the NFL, but it happened for the Eagles and Roseman was recognized again on Tuesday for his Super season.
"Incredibly collaborative," Chairman/CEO Jeffrey Lurie said on Tuesday. "The process of identifying what players to bring in is an inexact science but we, as a group, Howie and his staff, the coaches, they spend so much time together, they're on the same page, they know the kind of players that they're looking for and they're looking for players that for some reason may be overlooked, or a gem or whatever it is, different circumstances. You don't always hit on every player, but they did one great job, they've done one great job and you've just got to give everybody the credit. It takes a village."
