By Max Harper
NBC Sports’ Mike Florio interviewed Eagles GM Howie Roseman regarding the decision to trade up from No. 10 to No. 9 in order to select Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter:
“I think when we looked at it, I think one of the things just going back and you know, me personally made a lot of mistakes here throughout the process in the draft process and looking back and sometimes, it’s about getting cute with picks and not really going and getting the outcome that you desire as opposed to kind of being a little bit more conservative,” Roseman said.
“And so, for us, where we were in the draft at that moment, we felt like that was the right thing to do to get Jalen here. Obviously, we know the story and the background behind Jalen. And we don’t feel so confident in our abilities to know that we can make everything right, but we do feel like in this specific situation that we have a good environment. We do think Jalen loves football. He wants to be great and so we’re excited to get him here and obviously work from there.”
Roseman also was asked about whether, during the negotiations with the Bears, they tried to create the impression that some other team was prepared to leapfrog the Eagles or whether the Eagles were left to their own devices to make a guess as to what might happen, if the Eagles didn’t trade up.
“I think you’re left your own devices in those situations, and you’re putting yourself out there when, I mean there are situations where you’re trading for nothing, right?” Roseman said.
“I’m not saying it was in this situation necessarily, but you’re doing it and you have to be comfortable with the outcome either way. And so, you have to be comfortable with the outcome of, ‘Hey, I traded a fourth-round pick’ and understanding that could be a good player for your team a year from now, but at the same situation being OK with not getting the player and who is next. And so, you know, that’s not to say we wouldn’t have been OK staying at 10 and taking another player, we just felt for us and our team and where we were that Jalen Carter was the right selection for us.”
