Howie Roseman has learned from his decision to select a quarterback.
Oh, you thought we were talking about last weekend? Wrong. Roseman explained his lesson learned from the 2012 draft. The Eagles selected Nick Foles in the third round with the 88th overall selection, but could have had Russell Wilson, who was taken 75th overall -- 16 picks after Philadelphia's second-round selection -- by Seattle.
"We had this plan," Roseman recalled during an appearance on *NFL Total Access*. "We had this plan that we were gonna go into it and we were gonna get a quarterback who is now playing, really successful in another place, and a quarterback who's won a world championship in our place, and we were looking at both of them. And we tried to get a little cute. We kind of figured out the difference between the second and third rounds, and I feel like my lesson that I learned from that is: What is the difference between taking a guy in the second round and the third round if you get a guy who's an important player to your football team?"
Roseman didn't explicitly admit that's who the Eagles were pursuing, but let's face it: After Andrew Luck was selected first overall, no quarterback taken between him and Foles in that draft ended up being "really successful" except for Wilson. NFL Network's Mike Garafolo attempted to clarify that, to which Roseman responded by pleading the fifth.
"I'm not gonna get tampering charges," Roseman said with a smirk. "I'm just saying we're going to make sure we learn from the things we do, and we're not gonna get cute."
So avoiding getting cute meant taking a guy they wanted at the position when he was available. As Roseman said, why miss out on a man who he thinks could be an important player for his Eagles? They'd already done that once with Wilson. Even if Hurts never ends up being anything like Wilson, he's not making the same mistake twice.
He's also not worried about the spent pick being a second- or third-rounder, because that type of finesse attempt is what cost Philadelphia Wilson in 2012, and because if it helps the Eagles win games, it's worth it. Roseman referenced the third-round selection sent to Detroit for Golden Tate, who only played 10 games in an Eagles uniform but caught a game-winning touchdown pass in a wild-card victory over the Bears in Chicago.
"If you said it to me right now: 'You can trade a third-round pick to win a playoff win?' I would do that," Roseman said. "I would do whatever it takes to try to win as many games as possible and get a championship parade for the Philadelphia Eagles."
No, this isn't about hedging against Carson Wentz and his lucrative contract. It is about ensuring the Eagles have someone viable behind Wentz in the event of a significant injury -- something Wentz has suffered at inopportune times more than once in his relatively short career.
"We're not looking for Carson's replacement," Roseman said on 94 WIP on Monday, via NBC Sports Philadelphia. "I hope Carson plays till he's 40, 42 years old. We just feel like this is the most important position in sports and we think this player has something to him. ... Someone said this to me, that's a successful money manager or stock guy or something, and they said when you hedge on something it's always expensive and everyone always complains about hedging or buying insurance until they need it."
When it happened in 2017, Foles was there to carry the Eagles. If it happens in 2020, Roseman will be happy to have Hurts.
