Eagles Need 'Fresh Ideas' to Reach Front Office, GM Howie Roseman

The Philadelphia Eagles have prioritized the line of scrimmage forever, but it's time to think outside the box and draft playmakers at positions that are not always a priority

Fresh ideas are on the way for the Philadelphia Eagles offense with the reported hiring of Kellen Moore to be the offensive coordinator.

Vic Fangio will bring a new personality as the defensive coordinator and a few tweaks to a familiar scheme.

With this influx come fresh ideas and it is fair to wonder if there will be any upward trickle of them to the front office, where general manager Howie Roseman carries on with a get-out-of-jail-free card given to him by owner Jeffrey Lurie.

There should be.

For too many years, the Eagles’ philosophy has been to build in the trenches. It’s a philosophy that has yielded one Super Bowl title and a 1-2 record in the Big Game this century.

It's time to go in search of a top-end playmaker at a position they haven't particularly invested as much in, such as safety, linebacker, and/or cornerback.

Howie Roseman (left) needs to stray from line-of-scrimmage philosophy and go in search of playmakers :: John McMullen/SI Eagles Today

Now, you might say, well at least a "trench philosophy" is better than whatever it is their NFC East counterparts, the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders, are using. It’s been 28 years since the Cowboys have been to a Super Bowl and 30 since Washington last played in one.

The Eagles’ philosophy of pouring an infinite number of resources, both financially and in draft capital, always seems to come up at this time of year, when the conference championship games are played, and Philly isn’t in it.

It is now when we look at other teams' rosters and see the linebackers on display, such as the San Francisco 49ers’ Dre Greenlaw and Fred Warner, and the safety play of the Baltimore Ravens’ Kyle Hamilton.

The Eagles could have had Hamilton if they had strayed from their philosophy two years ago when they traded up two spots to get ahead of Baltimore to take defensive tackle Jordan Davis. Philly believed the Ravens would have taken Davis had they not moved in front of them.

Davis improved from his rookie year to Year 2 but still has some leaps to take in Year 3 to prove himself worthy of being taken 13th overall. Hamilton, who went 14, is a playmaker who was voted a first-team Associated Press All-Pro this past season with 81 tackles and four interceptions.

The Eagles went with an undersized pass rusher in Nolan Smith with the second of their two first-round picks a year later, grabbing him with the 30th overall pick. He is listed as an outside linebacker, but he could be defined as a defensive lineman, too.

The Eagles could have had cornerback Joey Porter, who went at No. 32 and is a finalist for the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year, or even safety Brian Branch, who went No. 45 to the Detroit Lions.

The thing about drafting the trenches is that it is difficult to find a true playmaker, especially at defensive tackle, which is the direction the Eagles took when they chose Davis two years ago and Jalen Carter this past year.

The Eagles had nine interceptions this season, their fewest since 2020 when they went 4-11-1, and only half of what they had last year when a safety, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, tied for the NFL lead with six of them.

Perhaps Sydney Brown, a third-round pick last year, can grow into a playmaking role, but he is coming off recent ACL surgery and his return won’t happen until the start of next season and what that return will look like right away is cloudy.

Granted, play-making safeties can come in any round, but the Eagles have never spent a first-round pick on one because it goes against their philosophy.

Same with linebackers, who can also be playmakers.

Maybe Nakobe Dean can be that rare – for the Eagles – third-round pick to work out, but they whiffed on third-round pick Davion Taylor in 2020.

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Before taking Taylor, it had been four years since the Eagles took a linebacker, and that was in the seventh round when they selected Joe Walker. Mychal Kendricks, a staple on the Eagles' defense that helped win the 2017 Super Bowl, was drafted in the second round five years earlier.

There are safeties, linebackers, and cornerbacks – true playmakers - who will be available to the Eagles in this draft. Free agents, too.

It’s time for the Eagles to tweak their philosophy, to go outside the box and away from the trenches, if only for a year because this is the year of fresh ideas.