There are some important players who are starters or key contributors to the Eagles' current playoff run on the heels of a 14-win season who deserve to return next season after their contracts run out at the end of this playoff run. Players such as Zack Baun, Milton Williams, and Josh Sweat to name a few.
Two others entering the final years of their contracts need to be given new deals and should be rewarded for what they have done these past few years. They are general manager Howie Roseman and head coach Nick Sirianni.
CEO/owner Jeffrey Lurie gave Roseman a three-year contract extension in March of 2022 that runs through 2025. It was a deal that matched the remaining length of the five-year contract Sirianni signed when he took over from Doug Pederson in early 2021.
Say what you will about Sirianni, and his methods can be maddening, but it’s clear he has his players’ back and they have his. He has established a winning culture, with two 14-win seasons in the last three years, including winning a franchise-record 10 games in a row this year, going to a Super Bowl, and the playoffs all four of his seasons. His career record is 51-32, including a 3-3 playoff mark.
Roseman has been plagued by some questionable drafts and decision-making throughout a career that began as Eagles GM that began in 2010. He survived a trip to the so-called “broom closet” when Chip Kelly was given full power for a miserable one season, and has been part of three coaching changes.
It was Roseman, however, who constructed the 2017 roster than won the franchise its first Super Bowl and since signing his extension, his drafts have been superb, allowing the Eagles to transition from an aging club to one where there is not only plenty of talent but young talent, too.
The 2022 class produced three starters – Jordan Davis, Cam Jurgens, Nakobe Dean – and key reserve – Grant Calcaterra.
The hallmark of the 2023 class was Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith, but every one of the seven players taken has played important snaps. Last year, he rebuilt the secondary in one swoop by drafting Quinyon Mitchell and trading up to get Cooper DeJean, while adding pass rusher Jalyx Hunt and others with what look to be solid futures, such as Jeremiah Trotter, Jr., Will Shipley, Johnny Wilson, Ainias Smith, and Trevor Keegan.
There's no denying he does his homework in the undrafted free agent process in the hours after a draft ends, delivering Reed Blankenship and Britain Covey to name two.
Roseman could find a new job elsewhere if he wanted, and already the New York Jets expressed interest. Presumably, Sirianni and his track record would be snapped up to be a head coach, too, if he were on the street.
Salaries of an NFL head coach are never officially released but many outlets have placed Sirianni’s contract at a value of $30 to $35 million, which makes it about $6 to $7M per year. If that is the case, that is estimated to put him in the middle of the pack of what the league's head coaches are making.
Roseman and Lurie have been very tight, back when Rosman entered the organization as an intern in 2000 just a few years after Lurie bought the team in 1994. They’re relationship is as solid as it gets.
Both are due raises. They earned them.
Here's the thing, though. Lurie, who will turn 74 in September, could retire any day. He is training his son, Julian Lurie, a 2017 graduate of Harvard, on every aspect of the organization and, for the last two years, has carried the title of the team’s business and football operation strategy.
Presumably, Julian Lurie has a good relationship with the coach and GM, but one never knows until he takes over completely.
