Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer
If nothing else, Howie Roseman isn’t afraid to make a move — or two, or three — in an effort to bolster the roster. The Eagles general manager was aggressive in addressing positions of need leading up to Tuesday’s 4 p.m. trade deadline, making three acquisitions over the course of five days. Roseman added an edge rusher in Jaelan Phillips from the Miami Dolphins and picked up a pair of cornerbacks in Jaire Alexander and Michael Carter II from the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Jets, respectively. » READ MORE: Eagles, NFL moves and rumors from the trade deadline But Roseman didn’t just wake up last week and start retooling the roster. Rather, he has made nine trades since the start of training camp, all in an attempt to take advantage of the Eagles’ wide-open Super Bowl window. He has had the picks to do it, too. “I think it first starts with an overall philosophy that we could upgrade every spot,” Roseman said after Tuesday’s trade deadline. “We can upgrade every spot on our practice squad, on our 53-man roster. With that mentality, looking for any edges. So if there’s a incremental difference in a player, we owe it to our team, to our fans, to our building, to our owner, to do that.” Roseman’s biggest swing at the trade deadline wasn’t merely a player of incrementally higher talent. Phillips, whom the Eagles acquired in exchange for a 2026 third-round pick, has more sacks in his last five games (three) than any of the individual edge rushers that have played in Philadelphia all season. The discussion that Roseman had with defensive coordinator Vic Fangio about acquiring Phillips was “really easy,” the Eagles general manager said. (He was jokingly taken aback by his own admission that he had a “really easy” conversation with the veteran coach.) That’s because Fangio is well-acquainted with Phillips, having served as his defensive coordinator with the Dolphins in 2023. Roseman lauded the person and the player, acknowledging that the Eagles have been keeping tabs on Phillips since his college days at UCLA and Miami. He also acknowledged the lengthy injury history — namely a 2023 Achilles injury and a 2024 partial ACL tear — associated with the player they gave up a third-rounder to acquire. When evaluating these players, Roseman stressed the importance of going back and watching them throughout their career, including those injuries and how they responded in the aftermath. Roseman suggested that Phillips’ work ethic and on-field impact transcended his injury concerns. “For us, it’s so hard to find difference-makers as players and as people that you don’t want to live with regret in this job,” Roseman said. “I think when we came down to it and had the conversations, the regret would be not doing everything we can to try to maximize the ability of this team to win as many games as we possibly can and give ourselves an opportunity in January and hopefully February.” When asked for his interest level in extending Phillips’ contract beyond this year, Roseman noted that he doesn’t typically make those moves in-season, especially when the team is in a position to compete in the playoffs. “We have a lot of good players who are free agents after this year,” Roseman said. “And I think when you start picking favorites when you’re trying to compete for championships, there are other issues that come along with that. I think there’s going to be plenty of time to handle our business, however long this season lasts, and hopefully it’s a very long time, and we’ll deal with all that when the time comes.” His other two trade-deadline moves were born out of a lesson learned about the importance of cornerback depth. The group has been banged-up throughout the year, with Jakorian Bennett going on injured reserve with a pec injury after Week 3 and Adoree’ Jackson missing time due to various ailments. Could either player become more than just depth contributors? Roseman acknowledged that the addition of Carter, a nickel cornerback who has played at an “elite level,” gives the Eagles “flexibility.” He did not outright say that the acquisition would prompt Cooper DeJean to move from the slot to the outside on a full-time basis. Carter, the 5-foot-10, 184-pound cornerback, also has the ability to play safety. Roseman likened his role to that of Avonte Maddox in 2024, a player who served as a depth piece at nickel and at safety after his demotion from the starting slot role. Meanwhile, Alexander, whom the Eagles acquired in a late-round pick-swap with the Ravens, arrives in Philadelphia with some injury red flags. Still, Roseman stated that they felt the trade for Alexander was a dart worth throwing given his current health and his past, two-time Pro Bowl-earning performance. “You acquire information, you watch everything, and you feel like, ‘Hey, the risk is worth the reward here,’” Roseman said. “And I think when you talk about a still young guy, knowing where his health is at now, feeling healthy, feeling good, we felt like the risk was worth the reward with him.” Roseman’s effort to continue to prop open the Eagles’ Super Bowl window was also reflected in the moves he didn’t make. No, he did not trade A.J. Brown, despite some speculation that the three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver was on his way out of Philadelphia. Roseman pushed back on those rumors by making his current stance on Brown clear. “I think that when you’re trying to be a great team, it’s hard to trade great players,” Roseman said. “And A.J. Brown is a great player. He wears the ‘C’ for a reason. He’s an important part of this team, of this organization. He cares about winning. He cares about his teammates. “I think that when you’re a team like ours that is looking forward to an opportunity to compete for a championship, you just don’t get rid of the guys like that. And so [I] feel very lucky to have him on our team and excited about the second half of the season with him.” Roseman also addressed reports that he had interest in trading for elite edge rushers Micah Parsons, when he was with the Dallas Cowboys, and Myles Garrett, albeit in an indirect way. While he didn’t want to speak about those players specifically, he explained his overall philosophy when it comes to making trade offers for high-end talent in exchange for substantial draft capital. “I feel like when there’s opportunities to be aggressive for the right players, we’re not going to sit on our hands,” Roseman said. “I don’t think that you have great success without taking great risks at times. They’ve got to make sense in terms of the risks that you’re taking. We can’t be afraid to fail. “I think for a lot of times, for you to get to the top, that you got to be willing to take chances that may look controversial at times. And so if there was an opportunity to do that, that we thought gave us also an opportunity to be the last team standing, put confetti on our head, we’re going to go aggressive in that direction.” Those moves didn’t happen. Time will tell if the ones Roseman did make will pay off in the form of back-to-back Super Bowls.
