Don’t let Howie Roseman escape his share of the blame for this long, hard Eagles season
The coach will continue to own the Eagles' downturn, as he knows he must. But the general manager is a central character in this episode as well.
Success has a thousand fathers, but failure for the Eagles right now has Nick Sirianni’s face. Is that fair? Fair doesn’t matter. Fair has nothing to do with it. The Eagles have lost four straight games. They are playing third-string offensive linemen and running backs because their roster is so scarred with injuries. None of it is fair, but an NFL head coach signs on for the unfairness when he signs his contract, especially when he is in Sirianni’s position. Especially when he coaches the Eagles.
So Sirianni takes to the lectern after each of those losses, and he answers for the overall ugliness of the Eagles’ 25-14 eyesore against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. He answers for mismanaging the clock and kicking the ball deep late against the Jaguars, and he answers for his fourth-down decision-making and the offense’s ineptitude against the Rams. He answers for everything, even the matters for which he merely shares the blame, even the matters for which he might not bear any at all.
“We all have to do better,” Sirianni said. “I think that’s the whole consensus here is it’s not just one thing. It’s not just one player on an island. It’s not just one coach on an island. This is a team game, an ultimate team game, and we all have things to get better.”
Howie Roseman might have missed his chance to do his part. For all the criticism, deserved and undeserved, thrown at Sirianni for the last month, there’s a contradiction cutting to the core of all that anger over the head coach: Everyone knows how things work with the Eagles. Everyone knows that Sirianni is in at best a collaborative relationship with Roseman, the Eagles’ general manager and executive vice president, when it comes to what this roster and coaching staff look like and how this team plays. Everyone knows this is a GM-driven franchise.
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Yes, if the Eagles can’t pull out of this downward spiral — especially if DeVonta Smith and Saquon Barkley and the team’s other wounded members return to full health — then Sirianni’s job will likely be in jeopardy. But those in-game decisions that get everyone up in arms aren’t the lone cause of this team’s problems this season. Remember ...
Sirianni was not the only person to sign off on the hiring of Sean Mannion to be the team’s offensive coordinator. And he was hardly the only person in the Eagles’ organization touting the brilliance of a young coach who had never called plays before, had never run an offense before, and so far has provided little evidence that he can.
Sirianni did not agree to give a three-year contract extension worth as much as $78 million to a player, tackle Jordan Davis, who this season has been on the field for fewer than half of the Eagles’ defensive snaps.
Sirianni did not determine ahead of the 2025 draft that the Eagles had enough depth along their offensive line that they didn’t have to select a lineman in the first or second round. He did not make the final calls on the selections of linebacker Jihaad Campbell and safety Andrew Mukuba — both of whom have struggled and are struggling, the former of whom admitted as much Sunday.
“My biggest thing is just to try to be consistent,” Campbell said. “I definitely feel like there is sometimes a lack of consistency, and I have to do a better job of executing and doing what I have to do. There’s no excuse for anything or pointing the finger at other players or coaches. At the end of the day, we all look in the mirror and see what we’ve got to fix and see what works.”
Sirianni did not trade two third-round picks for a defensive end, Jonathan Greenard, who had just three sacks in 12 games last season and has not recorded one in three games this season. And upon acquiring Greenard, Sirianni did not sign him to a four-year contract worth as much as $100 million.
Sirianni did not draft wide receiver Makai Lemon in the first round and tight end Eli Stowers in the second round this year. And while it is early yet to evaluate fully and fairly the wisdom of those picks, it is not too early to note that Sirianni did not put the Eagles in the position of having to count on Stowers to contribute immediately because they were so obviously weak at tight end. He also did not insist that the Eagles keep four quarterbacks — one of whom was Andy Dalton, one of whom is Tanner McKee — on their roster this season. By now, though, you get the point.
Roseman has generally been a great GM, but that history doesn’t and shouldn’t absolve him from his part in what’s shaping up to be the longest, hardest Eagles season in six years, since the last time they fired their head coach. Nick Sirianni — the coach with the shorthanded team, the coach handed some coaches and players who haven’t been what they were billed to be — answered the inevitable questions Sunday, and he even said one more time: “It’s the ultimate team game. We all have to do better — period. We all have to do better.” All includes the architect. All includes the man truly in charge. All includes Howie Roseman.
