By Ben Sullivan
Eagles owner Jeff Lurie is getting a lot of credit for making a bold decision which elevated coach Chip Kelly to supreme leader and demoted Howie Roseman to supreme office boy.
But, really, as Reuben Frank wrote on CSNPhilly.com, Lurie had no choice:
“He did the only thing he could possibly do in the long-term interest of the team he’s owned for more than 20 years. He demoted the one person in the organization he’s closest to.”
And if you think Roseman got a promotion, as the Eagles are claiming, then you probably think House speaker John Boehner is right when he keeps asking, “Mr. President, where are the jobs?” even though unemployment is now down to 5.8%.
Actually, Howie Boy is lucky he still has a job after his ham-handed effort to take over the Eagles, lock, stock and barrel.
Lurie gave Howie Boy a contract extension and a fancy corporate title, but in reality, Lurie wiped Roseman of his key general manager duties five days after telling reporters Roseman would “absolutely” return in 2015 as the Eagles’ general manager.
By doing so, Lurie found a way to restore some much-needed health and sanity to the Eagles’ teetering front office and retain head coach Chip Kelly, who has led the team to consecutive 10-6 seasons after replacing Andy Reid.
To put Lurie’s relationship with Roseman in perspective, keep in mind that Lurie sided with Roseman when Roseman and Joe Banner were locked in a power struggle a few years ago. And Lurie and Banner were boyhood friends. Lurie hired Banner one day after buying the Eagles.
And it took a furious Kelly following Gamble’s dismissal for Lurie to finally realize that the fractured front office was limiting the Eagles’ success.
Despite his intense loyalty to Roseman, he knew deep down that a front office with good people being forced out on a regular basis, one with a general manager alienating people around him, simply was not going to lead to the championships he’s been chasing for two decades.
So this time, instead of keeping Roseman happy and eliminating whoever his latest rival was, Lurie took powerful action.
