Howie Roseman Clarifies His Eric Rowe Explanation: 'Did Not Make Sense'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Howie Roseman's explanation to why he traded cornerback Eric Rowe did not make sense.
Roseman, who originally told reporters that the Eagles determined they were unlikely to re-sign the second-year corner to a future extension, clarified his explanation Monday on the 94WIP Morning Show, admitting even his own nine-year-old was confused.
Related: Porter: Howie Roseman's Eric Rowe Explanation Was Bad
"You gotta give me a chance to correct my answer on Eric Rowe from that press conference," the Eagles' executive vice president of football operations preemptively told Angelo Cataldi.
"Yesterday, my nine-year-old son said, 'Dad I didn't really understand your answer from that press conference. So, when the nine-year-old boy doesn't understand the answer, it's probably a problem. So I said, 'The reason you don't understand was because it wasn't coherent. I didn't make any sense.'
"It's the first week of the season and we get this offer and it's the Patriots. We're not sitting there thinking we're getting over on Bill Belichick, maybe the best evaluators of defensive backs in the history of the NFL. What we were thinking about was where he was on our depth chart and at that time, the starting three guys were Nolan [Carroll], Leodis [McKelvin], Ron Brooks. Jalen Mills at that point in camp had beat him out, so he was the fourth guy. And then when we spoke with our coaches, they said that Malcolm [Jenkins] would be the next guy in the slot.
Related: Rowe Calls Roseman's Response To Trading Him 'Really Weird'
"So for where we were and what his role was at the time, we felt it was pretty good value. For them to give up that kind of a pick -- a fourth that could be a third -- we knew that they had a role for him. We knew there was going to be an opportunity and we've got to do what we think is best for us. Now saying that Ang [Angelo], we probably make 50 decisions a year that are really real decisions that we sit down and make. To say that we don't go back and think about them and think about if we were right, that's part of it. You want to hit as many as you can, but when you're watching games of other players that you had here that's the hard part about doing it."
Listen: Howie Roseman and vice president of player personnel Joe Douglas in-studio with the 94WIP Morning Show
Some people felt Roseman was simply trying to remove any players that were acquired by the team's previous head coach Chip Kelly, like Rowe -- the Eagles' second-round pick in 2015.
Related: Watch: Ex-Eagles CB Eric Rowe Gets INT In AFC Title Game
"That's false, we want good players," Roseman said. "I don't care where they came from. If you have suggestions that make sense -- that may be going a little bit too far. You get a guy like Jordan Hicks and the role he contributes for our football team, what kind of character he has -- football character, personal character."
You can watch Howie Roseman and Joe Douglas live in-studio on Facebook here (the video will flip after about :15 seconds):
