No Matter the Branding Jeffrey Lurie Remains Hands-On
An inquisitive, genial CEO.
That's how Jeffrey Lurie wants to brand himself as the leader of the Eagles.
Approaching his third decade as "owner" of Philadelphia's passion, on the surface, it seems like Lurie wants to distance himself from what has become a pejorative term to many.
When you go even further and add the adjective meddling in front of the term owner, the negative feedback starts to flow steadily.
Speaking at the NFL's spring meetings on Tuesday, Lurie acknowledged the perception around him these days but also balked at the thought he's gotten more involved with football matters after his franchise's Super Bowl LII championship ultimately splintered into pieces with the former face of the franchise derailing on the field and the Lombardi Trophy-winning coach paying the price for that.
Lurie claimed he was “slightly less involved” when it comes to micromanaging things vs. his early days as an NFL owner.
“I really believe in who we have in the building, and I’m very trusting of different departments that we have,” Lurie claimed. "... I would say if anything, the last few years I’ve taken a little more of a back seat."
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If Doug Pederson was in earshot in Palm Beach when Lurie spoke he might have chuckled at that but the Eagles owner has always defined his vision as the leader of an organization the way he did again this week, as "an active questioner of strategy and information.”
From Pederson's standpoint that philosophy started to wear thin when it came to wanting an explanation of an unlikely upset win in Green Bay or why the coach had to defend his loyalty to assistants being vilified by the fan base to an owner who should know better.
For a cerebral and measured man, it's a bit surprising that Lurie doesn't seem to realize his questions can create doubt or amplify it. In fact, he seems blissfully unaware at times that his suggestions or rooting interests can sway his employees even if he has the best of intentions.
The draft might be the best example of that sentiment.
Lurie offered up some of his rooting interests over the years that turned out to be great selections - Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata - as well as a miss that developed into a Hall of Fame-level quarterback in Russell Wilson.
The claim was Lurie's actions are “always to support those who are excited about players in the draft. It’s never my evaluation. I don’t do the work.”
The disconnect was the J.J. Arcega-Whiteside debate where is was a deadlock between the embattled JJAW and Parris Campbell, who also hasn't set the world afire, however.
In theory, that's Howie Roseman's call and the GM preferred Campbell before ultimately slamming down the gavel for JJAW, something that probably should have generated a question as to why from the inquisitive CEO but self-evaluation is always the most difficult type of assessment.
Lurie did allude to actual micro-management in one sense and dropped the affable, act at least for a moment to give a quick glimpse of how the sausage gets made with the coaching staff.
The issue that broke through the veneer was Pederson's staff post-Super Bowl LII and the reported instructions to fire Mike Groh and Carson Walch, as well as the tacit admission that Press Taylor and Matt Burke/Cory Undlin weren't going to cut it as coordinators after a 4-11-1 2020 campaign.
Probably no current owner has the requisite expertise to evaluate coaching from a mechanical perspective, although there are admittedly other avenues like communication skills that are more obvious.
"I have to evaluate the head coach on his management of coaches and who he wants to entrust on his coaching staff," Lurie admitted. That’s what an owner does."
Lurie then quickly caught himself and got back to the branding he prefers.
"That’s what a CEO does. So, yes, I will never tell a coach who to hire, but I will evaluate the coach on exactly how competent their staff is, how good their opposite side coordinator is," Lurie said.
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Groh and Taylor seemed to be the scapegoats for Carson Wentz's fall from grace, with the former blamed for butting heads too much with the former QB 1 and the latter looked down upon for being too close to Wentz.
"Who’s going to develop our quarterback the best?" Lurie asked rhetorically. "Those are very important to our franchise. If I see that the coach’s hiring may not be ideal, where it impacts the quarterback’s career, I’ve got to make the hard decisions."
Right now the current QB's career is in the hands of Nick Sirianni and his top lieutenants.
Lurie fiercely praised Sirianni for his work during the Lurie-coined transition year and to a lesser degree, Jalen Hurts, in the wake of Wilson and Deshaun Watson refusing to consider Philadelphia this offseason.
As for the future? Well, Wentz and Pederson were once the belles of the ball as well.
Label Lurie any way you like but never assume he's not savvy enough to turn on a dime.
"Who knows what the future holds?" the owner said.
"Owner" and all that entails is the proper branding there.
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
