Howie Roseman Talks About Moves in Free Agency, Jalen Hurts Extension

The Eagles GM talked to reporters at the owner's meetings in Phoenix and here is what he told the team's website and others

Howie Roseman was in Phoenix at the NFL owners’ meetings on Monday and spoke to reporters gathered at the posh Arizona Biltmore.

Comments from the Eagles’ GM were collected from the team’s website and are worth repeating here in case you missed them.

Roseman addressed his approach in free agency and quarterback Jalen Hurts,

The GM sounded as if a contract extension would be coming at some point, probably sooner than later.

Roseman has been steadfast in saying Hurts will be an Eagle for years to come, though he does not comment on how negotiations are going.

"We want him here long term," Roseman said, echoing his comments in press conferences following Super Bowl LVII and at the NFL Scouting Combine.

"He's going into the last year of his deal and that's going to be a priority for us to extend him. We have a great relationship with him. You have to navigate the offseason understanding that we're not going to lose our franchise quarterback with one year left on his deal.”

Roseman expanded on that by saying that he is fully aware of what the extension will do to the team’s budget in 2024 and beyond.

“Whatever that means, it means that 2024 is going to look different,” he said. “We're not going to have a quarterback on a rookie deal. We're going into it with our eyes open and understanding that we've got to kind of flip it. 

"A lot of guys on our team, especially on offense, have long-term deals. It's not like we don't have a bunch of guys who aren't on long-term deals."

Hurts’ rookie contract runs through 2023 with a current salary cap charge of $4.7 million.

Quarterback aside, Roseman said that the organization’s priorities heading into the offseason were going to start on the defensive line and at cornerback, and he delivered in that area.

He said the team talked to Chauncey Gardner-Johnson early in the process but also told the safety’s representation that they needed a decision, or the Eagles would have to go in another direction.

That’s what happened when they brought back James Bradberry and extended Darius Slay on expensive contracts.

“Those two (cornerback) spots are probably better (at this point) than I would have anticipated going into free agency,” said the GM.

"…That's one of the most important things with free agency," Roseman said. "You can go in with a plan, but you have to be able to pivot and have other options, not get stuck with nothing. …You can go in with a plan in free agency and you can pivot and understand what the values are, a valuation on those players."

The Eagles certainly took some lumps in free agency losing key starters on both sides of the ball.

In order to take their place, while being mindful of the looming mega-million extension for Hurts, Roseman went the one-year route on several additions in free agency, such as QB Marcus Mariota, RB Rashaad Penny, linebacker Nicholas Morrow, cornerback Greedy Williams, and safeties Terrell Edmunds and Justin Evans.

"When you're looking at these one-year guys, you want some high-upside guys, guys who have traits in their bodies, guys who we had a like for at some point in time," said Roseman 

"They're young guys who have a lot of upside. I think we like these kinds of high-upside-guys, lottery tickets with the understanding that they've got to prove it. They have a chip on their shoulder. They have talent. It hasn't worked out perfectly where they are and if you can hit on some of those guys it's mutually beneficial."

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglestoday.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.