NFL’s ‘Apex Predator’: How Philadelphia Eagles GM Howie Roseman Stays Ahead of Competition

The NFL's apex predator has become Howie Roseman, and the Philadelphia Eagles GM just snared two-time All-Pro safety Kevin Byard for a song and dance.

PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Eagles spent Sunday night allowing 244 yards and 10 points to the best offense in the NFL.

Most organizations in a similar situation might have rested on their laurels for a few well-deserved pats on the back. 

Despite shutting down the Miami Dolphins and the latest flavor of the month in Mike McDaniel, however, the Eagles were no slave to the moment and, a day later, GM Howie Roseman was leveraging a rebuilding team with a younger and less experienced executive in Ran Carthon of Tennessee to give up two-time All-Pro safety Kevin Byard for Terrell Edmunds and two Day 3 lottery tickets in 2024.

The thought process from the Titans' side is the conventional groupthink that defines the “progressive wing” of modern sports: you can either be great or really bad but somewhere in between is akin to the flyover territory only a rube would dare accept.

Byard wasn’t in the plans of Tennessee and out of Nashville come 2024 so why not get something for him is the enlightened sentiment from Music City. In this case, two Day 3 scratch-offs and a 10-game rental is the getback for a proven player and team leader still playing at a high level.

That kind of “forward-thinking” dogma is where a predator like Roseman lives.

Howie Roseman is making a run at another Executive of the Year Award :: John McMullen/Eagles Today

Byard, 30, is in his eighth NFL season and has established himself as one of the better playmakers on the back end in the NFL with 27 career interceptions, including a league-high eight in 2017 and at least four in five different seasons.

Only Miami cornerback Xavien Howard and Denver safety Justin Simmons have more interceptions since Byard entered the league as a third-round pick out of Middle Tennessee State in 2016.

Byard is extremely versatile and can toggle between free safety and strong safety job descriptions as well as the slot. He’s also been very durable, never missing a game as a professional, and is expected to fit in next to fellow MTSU alum Reed Blankenship as the last line of defense for Sean Desai.

The deal itself is a textbook example of why Philadelphia has been on top of the NFL for 25 consecutive weeks dating back to the 2022 season.

The foundational principles of the Eagles keep them ahead of the vast majority of the league before even one personnel decision is made.

And that enables Roseman to dunk on opposing decision-makers who often believe they are the smartest people in the room despite operating in a groupthink bubble where original thought is the only prohibition.

The Titans’ organization should have already blocked any Philadelphia-area numbers after Roseman fleeced the former GM Jon Robinson into unemployment with the A.J. Brown acquisition on Day 1 of the 2022 draft. 

Instead, the Titans have lost the plot and let the chicken hawk back in the hen house by convincing themselves there was no value left in demonstrated performance both on and off the field.