Roseman as GM traded down to draft with the Birds’ No. 1 pick in 2014 total bust Marcus Smith.
By Peter Gleason
Howie Roseman, who was stripped of his Eagles general manager’s job on Jan. 2 and therefore will have no influence over the April 30 NFL draft, felt compelled to pop off on personnel matters Saturday in Boston.
Roseman, who actually traded down and took Marcus Smith with the Birds’ No. 1 pick in 2014, now believes that trading up — which the team would have to do if it wants Marcus Mariota — is not a good idea.
Howie Boy was on a panel at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston.
“When you’re looking at trading up, at some point, your board drops off so dramatically in terms of how you evaluate that player,” Roseman said on the conference’s webcast. “But the history of trading up for one player, when you look at those trades, isn’t good for the team trading up and putting a lot of resources into it.
“Because the guys who are really good at the draft, if you’re hitting on 60 percent of your first-round picks, that’s a pretty good track record. And then it’s dropping as you go through the rounds. So really, the more chances you get, the more tickets to the lottery you get, the better you should be doing.”
“At the end of the day, it’s about the player you picked,” Roseman said. “You can go through each round of the draft on players on your team and see you have guys who are really good players from the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh round. . . . There’s always value. You can kind of convince yourself . . . ‘Who am I really going to get in the fifth or sixth round? I’m willing to give up that pick, because I really want this player in the second or third round.’ But it’s all about the evaluations and getting the right players into your building.”
