Eagles GM Howie Roseman on his 2026 Draft class

0:00 One of the signature moments of the 2026 NFL draft,

0:03 the Philadelphia Eagles move up to number 20

0:05 and make Makai Lemon their first round draft choice,

0:09 the Biletnikoff award-winning receiver out of USC.

0:11 Follow that up with Eli Stowers extremely athletic tight end out

0:15 of Vanderbilt and another fantastic draft

0:18 call for general manager Howie Roseman,

0:20 head coach Nick Sirianni, and the whole crew there in Philly.

0:23 our pleasure to welcome Howie to the program.

0:26 Rhett Lewis, Bucky Brooks, and your old pal Marc Ross uh with us here as well.

0:30 Thanks for doing this uh Howie.

0:32 But I I got to start, man, with just a a question on the phone call.

0:36 Like what was the level of anxiety when you couldn't first

0:39 reach Makai Lemon while you guys were on the clock there?

0:43 Well, Marc knows this.

0:44 You know, we want to talk to the player.

0:46 You know, we want to make sure that we get them on the phone.

0:49 um you you think of these horror stories about not knowing where the guy is.

0:53 Uh and so for us, I was like, we got to get this guy on the phone.

0:57 Um we got to make sure we talk to him before we pick him.

1:01 Uh I'm not really familiar with who's invited to the draft and who's not.

1:06 That's not part of my draft research.

1:08 So, I didn't realize he was there.

1:09 He was sitting there waiting.

1:11 You know, I just wanted to make sure

1:13 that we connected uh before we made the pick.

1:15 and then obviously um didn't know all this was going

1:18 on with him and the calls that were going on.

1:22 So just really excited to get him to Philadelphia,

1:24 start working on developing him and getting the best out of him.

1:28 Hey Howie, real quick,

1:29 uh our old buddy Daniel Jeremiah obviously used to work with you uh as well.

1:32 I I mean and as a former West Coast scout,

1:35 like how much would he have been sweating as you had to work

1:38 through the rolodex of numbers there that he was in charge of acquiring?

1:42 Yeah, you know, DJ, he he would have been telling me all

1:45 the teams that were going to take him in front of me.

1:48 You know, he would have just added to the stress and the anxiety of the moment.

1:52 He would have been like, "This team's taking them.

1:54 This team's taking them." You know,

1:55 we probably wouldn't have a 2027 first round pick if he was in the draft.

2:02 How we digging deeper into the to the Makai Lemon pick and also

2:06 the Eli Stowers pick with having

2:07 a new offensive coordinator there with Sean Mannion.

2:10 How much did your process change at all

2:12 with the discussions with the coaching staff and him saying,

2:15 "Okay, we know we're going to stack our board with these super talented players,

2:18 but these guys are actually a better fit maybe than

2:21 what we've had in the past." Marc, you know this.

2:24 You know, if we could have a vision for the player,

2:27 but if that vision isn't staff,

2:29 isn't with the coaching staff, isn't shared, you know,

2:32 if you can't visualize how this player is going to be used

2:36 in your offense and see that, then it's hard to pick the player,

2:40 you know, because as much as you may like the player,

2:42 you know, we're not calling the plays on Sundays.

2:44 So, um, you know, for us being able to go through these players,

2:47 get a feel for how they're going to be utilized in our system.

2:52 Um, as Eagles, I think it's a huge part of our process.

2:54 You know, I say all the time,

2:56 like there's five ways we're going to pick a player.

2:58 We're going to like the tape.

2:59 Uh, we're going to hope the numbers match, the character is going to be right,

3:01 the medical is going to be right, and the vision for the player.

3:04 Howie, I am fascinated.

3:05 You guys took an International Pathway Program player Uar Bernard,

3:09 who hasn't played a down of football.

3:11 What is the plan of taking someone who's never

3:14 been exposed to the game but is a remarkable athlete?

3:17 We talk about fundamentals a lot in Philadelphia

3:20 and you got to start with fundamentals when you're taking

3:22 a player who's never played before and we're going

3:24 to start from the ground up from the basics.

3:27 Um, you know, we're going to work with this player through

3:29 the spring to get him up to speed so that we

3:32 can at least see him play faster in the summer and see

3:35 if we can utilize some of his ability and his talent.

3:39 but understanding that it's going to be a growth process for him.

3:41 You know, everything's going to be new putting on a helmet

3:44 for the first time here is going to be new pads, everything for that.

3:48 And um just because we had the experience with Jordan and obviously, you know,

3:52 really proud of that experience and how special that is

3:54 doesn't guarantee future success for anything else we do.

3:57 And we know we got to start over um and really kind of rally around this person,

4:02 this player uh because it's going to be a hard transition.

4:05 Uh looking a little bit into the selection of Eli Stowers,

4:09 the extremely athletic tight end there.

4:11 Obviously blew up the combine, the vert, the 40, all of that.

4:14 Uh what was the discussion like around those traits?

4:16 You know, maybe as you guys were uh discussing that player

4:19 and how he would fit in with what you guys want to do?

4:23 Yeah, really unusual traits in his body.

4:25 Um and then you talk about character.

4:28 Um big time character, high character person, player,

4:31 you know, playing the quarterback position for a long time.

4:35 You see he has instincts on the field.

4:37 He has a feel for soft spots in zone.

4:40 He has chemistry with quarterbacks because

4:42 of that because he's played that position before.

4:44 Um and then just, you know, really unique unique athleticism.

4:47 Um you know, it's really hard when

4:50 you think about matchups and that's what we're

4:52 thinking about all the time like you know how people are going to play us.

4:56 um making sure we collect guys who have skill sets that that are hard

5:00 to defend and just feel like the the guys

5:03 just scratch the surface of his potential.

5:05 Sometimes we forget how new he is to the position.

5:07 Hey Howie, this is going on year 17 for you if I'm if I got the math right.

5:14 And for those who don't know,

5:15 Howie started with us in 2000 when I was with the Philadelphia Eagles.

5:19 I know outside of the two Super Bowl wins,

5:21 that was probably the best time of your life working with us, our staff there.

5:25 But how has your philosophy changed after all

5:27 those years of being in the game and being able

5:30 to stay current and actually ahead of the game

5:32 in most of the ways that you do you operate?

5:34 Yeah, Marc and I started at the vet, you know,

5:37 going up that back escalator when we wanted to escape early in the night,

5:40 you know, that was a beautiful thing.

5:42 and um really at the beginning of coach Reid and and when you

5:45 look at that staff including Marc it had to be like what it's

5:49 like to work at I don't know Google or Amazon just tremendously talented

5:53 people that I feel really fortunate to be around and learn from including

5:58 Marc and um you know I during those times a lot of the philosophy

6:02 was developed and it was always about the line of scrimmage it

6:04 was always about the offensive defensive line you know all of us shared

6:08 that kind of passion for it um and then building out from there.

6:12 You know, obviously the quarterback a huge huge priority for us

6:15 and supporting the quarterback with playmakers and then on the defensive side,

6:18 the defensive backfield.

6:19 And so, you know, uh we're we're trying to be selfless.

6:22 We're trying to get as many good players,

6:24 as many important positions as we possibly can,

6:27 understanding that it's a resource allocation game.

6:29 You know, we have only a certain number of picks each year.

6:32 Basically, we only have a certain number of money each year.

6:35 And so, we got to make good decisions within those confines.

6:39 Well, Howie, uh, great, you know,

6:40 really excited to see how these guys fit as they get out onto the field

6:43 in training camp and preseason and look forward to catching up again real soon.

6:47 Thanks for spending time with us.

6:48 Thanks for having me.

6:49 All the best to you and your family, all of you.