Eagles general manager Howie Roseman visits!

00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hi, this is Howie Roseman. Welcome to the Philly Show.

00:00:08
Speaker 2: But tomorrow Junior, Jim Salisbury, Todd Zleuki. It's Wednesday, August thirteenth, twenty twenty five.

00:00:14
Speaker 3: How is everybody doing?

00:00:16
Speaker 2: You heard from our little intro, little change piece, little little pulling the string on the guest.

00:00:25
Speaker 3: Whoa combio? I know that?

00:00:27
Speaker 2: Yes, that's that's like one of the six Spanish words I can speak and understand, and a couple of those.

00:00:33
Speaker 4: Yeah, don't de style love biblioteca.

00:00:38
Speaker 3: Yes, we can do it all.

00:00:42
Speaker 2: But we had Eagles General Manager, super Bowl champion Howie Roseman on the show. And let's start right there with the Parks first Pitch. Park's first Pitch is brought to us exclusively by our partners at Parks Casino, Pennsylvania's number one casino. And what a what a Park's first pitch to have today with Howie Roseman. And it was a lot of fun talking to him. Rubin, you go, you go way back with Howie. He got hired, you know, he was with the Eagles. He'd been with the Eagles forever, it feels like, but he was hired as Eagles GM January of twenty ten, you were wheeling dally. You just you're a month off of Roy Halliday coming to the Phillies. You tell us a little bit about your relationship with him and how far you guys go back before we get to Howie had.

00:01:33
Speaker 5: An opportunity to spend some time with him and sort of pick his brain his first time through as a as a GM, and we talked a little bit, had a couple of drinks from time to time, maybe had a dinner or two, but it.

00:01:46
Speaker 1: All really fascinated.

00:01:47
Speaker 6: And that was during a time when you know.

00:01:49
Speaker 5: We a lot of the gms at the time, we're trying to get together and talk about you know, best practices and stuff like that. But I've always found him to be somebody who's super astute, very driven, and really fun to fun to talk business. I mean, he's a fun guy just in just in general. He and his family great people, but just fun to talk business and things around. And it's been a real joy to watch his overall development and what's.

00:02:18
Speaker 6: Happened to his career.

00:02:19
Speaker 5: You know, he wins, he gets take sort of taken you know, taken down. He has some six levels of success he's and then he bounces back with like new ideas and a lot of thoughts and now he's probably the best GM in football and it's just been a real joy to watch his development and how things have worked out.

00:02:36
Speaker 4: For It's kind of cool how there's like a little fraternity in town between all the gms. I mean, you play golf a lot with Paul Holmgren former Flowers GM, and how are you of a great relationship with him?

00:02:48
Speaker 3: You know, it's funny.

00:02:49
Speaker 4: I was thinking, I remember a time when I was covering the Phillies, maybe when I first started, when the Eagles and Phillies, there was some tension there. You know, they were sharing veteran state. The Phillies used to complain that the Eagles would leave the showers messy, and there was some friction over you know, getting the new place built and who was showing the vet uh a lack of respect and who was shown in some respect.

00:03:16
Speaker 3: And there was.

00:03:17
Speaker 4: Like I said, some tension there, but not anymore. I mean, they're very close, the relationship between John Middleton Jeffrey Lory, the two owners, and there's a real healthy respect between the two organizations. When the Eagles have won you know what, two Super Bowls in the last seven years. The Phillies have been very enthusiastic in their congratulations of the Eagles, with banners hanging from Citizens Bank Park, and you know, so it's good to see the them them them pulling for each other. I didt you know, remember the parade in March. All the players down Claiward were watching it. To remember that on the EV they were watching it.

00:03:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was it was Yeah, I mean they they talked about how cool it would be, and you know, they see that and they can't help but think of maybe that could be us, and how much fun would that be if that was us. I mean, they've taught, they've talked about a lot. But how he had a lot of great things to say. I love to ask him about kind of how he got his start and how passionate he was about getting in the NFL from the time he was seven to the time he was a senior in high school through college, and how he was just super persistent in that pursuit.

00:04:23
Speaker 3: That was pretty cool to see.

00:04:24
Speaker 2: So, yeah, a lot of really cool things are going to hear in these next twenty minutes or so.

00:04:31
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00:05:19
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00:06:19
Speaker 2: Howie, thanks so much for joining the show.

00:06:22
Speaker 3: We're super happy to have you. Mean, whereberts you. The three of us are baseball people.

00:06:27
Speaker 2: And I was thinking, like in January we start getting geared up for spring training. For you, when do you start getting the itch of you know, getting Eagles players back at the facility wanting them to see pads. Obviously you're coming off the Super Bowl, But when did that itch start freaking for you?

00:06:43
Speaker 1: Some time in July it gets to the point where I'll wake up and I'll start like evaluating the things going on in my house and like trying to oversee some of the things my wife and my kids are doing. And she'll suddenly say to me, like, when does work start for you? Like when you go back to work, And that's when I know it's time to go. And by the time we start here, you can't wait to get back and you know it's it's a fun time of year because you get to be around your guys, evaluate your players, and you can't lose any games.

00:07:20
Speaker 3: Exactly right, that's right. How far you know?

00:07:24
Speaker 2: You became GM in January of twenty ten, right at the height of Ruben's run as Philly's GM, Like can.

00:07:32
Speaker 3: You talk about your relationship?

00:07:33
Speaker 2: Did you guys ever grab dinner, bounce ideas of.

00:07:38
Speaker 1: Danks, drinks, hang out? But you know what the best part is that and obviously, like I had a sabbatical year that was that was imposed on me. But you know, at one point early in my tenure, Ruben and I were on a podium together. I don't know if you're gonna remember this. I think we're actually at the stadium, yep. And you know, they said, what's your biggest surprise? And I said, you know, after watching the response to Rubin, after all the success he had, I realized that just winning in Philadelphia once. I always had this vision like you win a World championship year like your god for life, and clearly like that's not going to happen, and you know, it's kind of joking. And then we won in seventeen, and you know, I think there was a moment in twenty twenty where my boys were watching a Phillies game. I know there was a moment twenty foven boys were watching Phillies game and there was a chance fire Howie in the stands, and you know it was like, yeah, you know, I don't know. We've made the playoffs three last four years, won a World championship. You know, you thought that was pretty good, and then you remembered kind of I remembered my moment on that podium with Rube where it's you know, in this city, which which I appreciate, I really do. It's nothing that you've done in the past guarantees your success or your standing in the future. And that's okay, that's okay.

00:08:58
Speaker 9: And a cool thing about that, howie is it?

00:09:00
Speaker 10: I mean when you had sort of that hiatus, I mean, you ended up doing some things you yourself personally to become the GM, probably the best GM and in the history of the of the Eagles, but.

00:09:13
Speaker 5: Also in the sport. And you know, one of the things that I really am really impressed by is the fact that you continue to work to be that guy. Is there anybody that in particular influenced some of those changes, some of the things that you did change as far as you know, doing your job is concerned.

00:09:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know this. You know, you get these jobs, you always aspire for these jobs, and then you get in the seat and you really don't know what it takes, you know, And that's okay. You don't know what it takes to be a GM or a head coach until you're really doing it. And there's very little patience for the mistakes that you're going to inevitably make. And the more you do it, you know, when you're young, you're kind of like experience is overrated and as you get older, You're like, man, experience is the most important thing you can get and the only way you can do really well is have adversity and learn from your mistakes. And so being able to take that year and sit down, I mean you and I sat down together during that year, certainly doing it with all these current former GMS leaders of businesses and understanding like nothing is a straight line. You know, you have to go through the ups and downs to be great in anything you do. And it really inspired me. You know, I didn't know that I get the chance certainly didn't know that I get the chance to get in Philly, but it really inspired me to have another opportunity and to really do it the way with the vision that I had. And you know, we got to constantly evolve in this profession, Like you can't just say this is how I'm going to be and this is it and stay stagnant because you'll get your ass kicked. And so I think, you know, for me, it's constant, like I think I'm learning something new every day, you know, And from my perspective, that's what makes this so exciting, is like I don't even feel like I've reached my ceiling because I still have so much to learn and gain. You know, I'll take something from this conversation that will make me a little better.

00:11:05
Speaker 11: You know.

00:11:05
Speaker 1: So from my perspective, when you're younger, you're kind of like, man, I'm so good. You know, I'm ready for this, and you kind of got this cockiness, this arrogance, and you realize as you get older, like you're never going to be perfect, like you're always constantly learning and developing if you really want to have a chance to be great.

00:11:23
Speaker 4: Harry, I'm kind of familiar with your story. You knew at a very young age you wanted to be a football executive, a GM.

00:11:29
Speaker 1: Correct I did, Yeah, I did?

00:11:31
Speaker 3: What kind of you guys?

00:11:33
Speaker 1: I couldn't play in the NFL? So I realized that pretty early too. My first my first scouting report was probably on myself, you know, like I really felt like it for a long time. I was like, man, I can throw. I could be a quarterback in the NFL. And then like you know, I started seeing like the quarterbacks there were six two six, three, six four. I looked around my family. Tallest guy was six feet. I go, this wasn't this wasn't going to happen. It happened for me, So I pivoted quickly.

00:11:58
Speaker 4: Was was there an executive, a GM type that kind of kindled your dream or was there a team that ignited your fire for that passion?

00:12:08
Speaker 1: Ironically, and you know, I'm probably sacriligious for saying this, but but one of the teams that actually really rekindled my desire or kind or really like that I look to and I still think of this team was the eighty six Mets. You know, the personality of that team growing up or in and around New York and watching that team and the personality of that team, and how that team was put together with with veterans who were kind of inspired to win and young players who had come through the system and were winning. And and then that that was eighty six. And in eighty six the Jets had an unbelievable team too. They started ten to one like they were on fire. They ended up losing in a playoff game in double overtiming in Cleveland. Mark Gastino on on a fourth down got a rough in the passer on Bernie Pozar. The drive continued. They lost that game. But and that team too, like that team that the offense of firepower on that team O line, receivers, running back, and so in New York and eighty six there were those two teams. And I was eleven years old, and those teams I still as you can tell, I still remember those teams and how they're made up. And the GM of the Mets in eighty six was Frank Casher. Do you remember that? Remember?

00:13:18
Speaker 3: Oh yeah?

00:13:19
Speaker 1: And the eighty six Jets was Dick Steinberg. And so that those teams, like those gms, how they were made, they really affected me.

00:13:28
Speaker 4: I hope this doesn't sully your view of Frank Cash and but he began his career as a sports writer.

00:13:37
Speaker 1: Well, it's funny you say that because you know, one of my favorite GMS in the n NFL history Ernie Corsi. You know, like he was a pr guy. So you know, it's from my perspective. You know, at the end of the day, if you can evaluate, if you can do it, it doesn't matter where you came from. It's it's an instinct. It's just like anything in life. If you have the instincts do something, if you work hard at it, you combine instincts and hard work and persistence, you got.

00:14:04
Speaker 3: A chance away.

00:14:06
Speaker 2: I read this story and please tell me if it's truth or if it's a legend that you were flying to Florida to visit your grandparents as a kid, and you had a New York Yankees cap on and you got seated somehow next to Jack Elway, who was the San Jose State had football coach at the time, and John was obviously drafted by the Yankees. And somehow, I guess maybe you were seven, and you actually talked with Jack throughout the entire flight about football. And at the end of it, he gave his business card to your mom and said, please call when he graduates from high school.

00:14:36
Speaker 3: Is this true?

00:14:38
Speaker 1: Yeah? It was unbelievable because I had no connection to the NFL, and I even at that age. You know, it really started when I was six years old and the Jets played the Dolphins the AFC Championship game, the AJ Dewey Game. They lost fourteen to nothing in the mud and the old Orange ball A J. Dou had two interceptions, one for a touchdown, and I was hooked, and and I just like the draft, even at that age, and so to be able to sit down next to him, and I was reading a draft magazine and to have this guy who had you know, he was football royalty to actually believe in me. And you know, belief is such a huge deal, you know for our players, you know, for our staff, haven't havn't people believe in them? You know, everyone needs belief, Everyone needs people who believe in them. You know, I see it so often, you know, our players when you just these talented guys, when you just tell them like, I believe in you. I know you can do it. I've seen it. I know you got this. And you know for me that that was just instrumental. And you know, John Elwood became the GM of the Broncos and the first time I met him, I told him that story, you know, and his dad was obviously a special person to him. But you know that one meeting had a huge impact on me.

00:15:47
Speaker 3: So you reach out to him, did you ever? Oh yeah, yeah you did. You you called him after high school?

00:15:54
Speaker 9: So interestingly, Jack Jack Elway was the head coach at Stanford all the years when I was there at Stanford, So yeah, eighty four to eighty nine, I think it was was his tenure, but I was there, you know through eighty seven, and I had an opportunity to see his work and obviously was loving Jack and watching John elways career continued.

00:16:17
Speaker 5: Pretty cool, pretty cool, pretty cool.

00:16:21
Speaker 3: More from Howie Roseman.

00:16:22
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00:17:38
Speaker 2: Then the other thing I loved reading about how your your your interests as a kid was you know even I guess from senior high school through through college, you like sent letters to every NFL team right looking for jobs. And the persistence in that and and this is the part that amazed me the most is that you actually sent thank you notes to the rejection letters.

00:17:58
Speaker 3: Is that true as well?

00:17:59
Speaker 2: So you get a rejection letter and you'd send thank you for responding to me?

00:18:04
Speaker 1: Is that dating was easy for me because I didn't care. You know, I was getting rejected all the time anyway. You know, it was like so someone else said no, it was like no problem. You know, I got so used to the word no that it's like it's it's really helped me so much in life. You know, I kind of joke about it, but I got I got four kids, three sons and a daughter, and I tell them all the time, like once once you get immune to hearing no and being rejected, it's powerful being able to do that and understanding it. You know, in your game, if you're successful three out of ten times, you're you're some of the best players in the league, you know. And so if you kind of take that into life, and you take that into into and now, I can't I can't be three for ten in the draft. I can't be three for ten in free agency. So I'm not saying that with any of our fans listening, like, and we got to be way better than that, and I'm trying. But I think the point is, like it's it's a lesson in life, like that is part of the process you got to do to be great, is you got to be okay understanding you're going to be rejected. Things aren't going to always go the right way. Teams aren't going to sometimes say yes to the trade offers. You know. Obviously a lot of people said no to me before I got in the door. And so yeah, for me, it got to the point where it was much harder to connect, you know, when I was coming up than it is now. You know, now it's like you know, you know, they just come up they think it's so easy to connect with you and just like give me a job. No, no, I'm not giving me a job. You know that's not how it works.

00:19:25
Speaker 6: Hallie.

00:19:25
Speaker 3: I was wondering.

00:19:26
Speaker 5: I was wondering, is there a quality of a player, like when we used to do our organization meetings, Is there a quality of a player that stands out to you? Like for me, was about someone who could compete competition, so a competitor. Is there something that you use for per position? Is there one quality that you look for as for employees and for for your members on the field.

00:19:52
Speaker 1: Well, I think I think the first part. Obviously, you know there's position specific stuff you're looking for. So what I'm looking for from at the quarterback positions gonna be different when I'm looking for in a defensive line, and so you know that that stuff, those traits are going to be different. But we are always looking for someone who's overcome adversity at some level because we know how tough it is to play in the NFL, We know how tough it is to play in this city. So give me an example of some sort of adversity you've overcome, how you overcame it. Who are the people in your life who did that. You know, obviously you were looking for competitors, no doubt about it, and we're able to see that. You can see a lot of the competition on tape. But for me, what you can't see on tape is give me a moment in your life that something something happened to you that wasn't great. Everyone has a moment that bad stuff happened and how did you react? And you get that. That's why our scouts are so important. You know, when they're able to dig into the background and you go through our team, you know, I'll give you. I'll give you a little secret that not many people know. You know when when they asked me to talk before the second Parade the night before, all of a sudden it hit me and it was basically, every single guy on our roster has basically a Philly story, has a story of adversity that they've overcome. I mean, we go through it. Jalen Hurts obviously what happened in Alabama, you know, then going to Oklahoma, Lane Johnson was a juke co height quarterback. You know, goes and he's the third offensive line and taken you know, like AJ Brown, the Titans pasted on paying him. I mean, you could go through Eviit, Jordan Malatta, you know, you could go through a whole team and go through that, you know, and then I got hit in the head, and you know.

00:21:28
Speaker 5: I came out.

00:21:29
Speaker 1: But I think from my perspective, that's what I think that is so impressive about our team, about the people off the field. I mean, look at our head coach, you know, look look at how he was judged originally. But people don't realize he had a traumatic injury in college where they told him he was never going to play again. You know, I think about it and I look for the people. You know, I say that the toughest person I know is my wife and the things she's overcome and how she's handled things, and so yeah, we're attracted to people who have had a versity, dealt with adversity and come out the other side with positive energy and that you want to be around them. You know, they're not kind of feeling sorry for themselves, but they kind of got this positive chip on their shoulder, like, hey, you know, I had this event, but it makes me even more thankful about the opportunity that I have.

00:22:17
Speaker 4: So you're talking about character, and that's so important in sports. How we down in spring training this year, you guys were having your parade back in Philly, and I'll tell you it was on the TV in the clubhouse. Players were watching it. They were inspired by it. You know, Brandy Graham brings the trophy out on opening day. This team was legitimately it's inspired by the Eagles championship, and there is.

00:22:39
Speaker 3: A connection between the two teams.

00:22:40
Speaker 4: John Milton's a close friend to you guys, is in your box all the time?

00:22:43
Speaker 3: Do you do you follow the Phillies?

00:22:45
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Oh yeah, well I'd say a couple of things. You know. You mentioned John and Jeffery's relationship. I mean, I have watched both our Super Bowls. John sat in front of me. You know, I think that he's surprised at what a psychopath during the games, you know, but he's pretty passionate too, now, Like I gotta be honest. His passion and his energy is tremendous. And then you talk about Dave den Browski. I mean, to me, this is a Hall of Fame executive. This is a guy that I've always followed. I always have tremendous respect for and appreciation for him and what he's done time and time again, and constantly another guy who's like constantly going somewhere and showing how great he is. And obviously in my relationship with Rubin. So yeah, every every night when I get home, you know, you put on the TV for a minute, and my TV immediately goes to the Phillies Phillies games. You know, my kids are huge Phillies fans. You know, they play baseball, so I think they're you know, following them and the success that they've had and showing it year after year being able to do that, and certainly when I was starting here also the success they had. I think there's a lot of parallels. And you know, I count myself as a huge Phillies fan.

00:24:01
Speaker 2: Back when you know, you talked earlier at the beginning, how you are always kind of looking to improve and find ways to improve. So I'm wondering, you know, do you when you see Dave Dombrowski. I don't know how often you actually cross paths with them, but do you guys pick each other's brains? You know, I'm thinking even further back, like Moneyball comes out in two thousand and three, and it's different sport obviously, do you pick up that book and page through it and say, you know, did you read that book? I mean anything, of course.

00:24:26
Speaker 1: And for me, like, there's so much you can learn from executives in different sports in the way they're approaching things. And you know, a lot of the things that we've done since I came back in sixteen, we're taking a page out of what was going on in baseball and basketball. You know, I think, you know, one of the things that I did, like moving money, you know, that wasn't really done in the NFL at that time, and we started doing in sixteen where we were basically trading contracts to gain money so that we could kind of resurface that money and re distribute it other places. And you know, for me, the way that baseball develops their players is a lesson for US football player development is still coming of age and it's something we take really seriously here in Philadelphia. And every time the trade deadline, free agency, you know, I am looking through all these moves. I'm trying to learn about these players and understand the WHYSE put myself in the in those positions.

00:25:18
Speaker 11: You know.

00:25:19
Speaker 1: So it's always things that you can learn from and to try to get better at what you're doing. And you know, I got I got someone across the street who's unbelievable what he does. And so yeah, we text back back and forth. We see each other occasionally, but obviously he's got busy schedule a lot more games than we got.

00:25:39
Speaker 4: How are you really appreciate your time? Just wanted to ask you. You know, you're a champion. We know how crazy this community is about the Eagles. Where's the coolest place? Maybe you ever heard an Eagles chant or maybe somebody ever said, hey, howie, you know way to go?

00:25:55
Speaker 3: We love it.

00:25:56
Speaker 1: It's it's funny you say that. We were in Rome two years ago and we went to a restaurant and our hotel was like a twenty five minute walk, and so you know, my youngest son, my daughter, my wife, my daughter wife are all dressed up. They're like, we're not walking, you know, And I'm like, man, we just had a big dinner. I'm gonna walk back. And my two oldest sons were like, Dad will walk with you. And we're walking across like a piazza and it's like nine thirty at night, and literally I'm like, we're i don't know. We're in bun down jeans and and it's kind of dark, and I hear Howie go birds, and I'm.

00:26:28
Speaker 6: Like, he was.

00:26:31
Speaker 11: Crazy, crazy going on. And then we were on a safari last year and South I'm not even kidding. We're in a safari last year in South Africa, and like, you know, I don't know if anyone's been on Asfari. Everyone needs to go on as FARRII it's unbelievable.

00:26:43
Speaker 1: But we're in these jeeps and we're like passing a jeep and I hear this jeep go birds and it's relly fans. Unbelievable, unbelievable. I'm gonna tell you what, I can't wait to see the Phillies finish this off. I'm gonna be there as we go down the street. I couldn't be more excited for all you guys. Thank you guys for having me.

00:27:03
Speaker 3: Thanks, Thanks Ali, We appreciate it. Thank you so much, really appreciate your time. Man, You're you're the man.

00:27:08
Speaker 6: Congratulations on your stulations.

00:27:10
Speaker 3: Thanks Memories.

00:27:11
Speaker 2: The Philly Show is brought to you by the Foul Territory Network. Subscribe to The Philly Show on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts