Howie Roseman indicates Eagles draft disagreement with Tom Donahoe was over defensive tackle, not corner
The senior football advisor apparently wanted a player the Eagles lost out on when they traded back in the third round.
Howie Roseman and senior football adviser Tom Donahoe were not at odds over the Giants’ nabbing cornerback Aaron Robinson ahead of the Eagles in the third round, in that much-discussed Friday night draft room video clip, the general manager said Tuesday in an interview with the WIP-FM 94.1 morning show.
Roseman indicated that Donahoe preferred North Carolina State defensive tackle Alim McNeill, a bigger-bodied prospect than Milton Williams, the defensive lineman the Eagles got when they traded back from 70th overall to 73rd. McNeill is listed at 6-foot-2, 317 pounds. Williams, from Louisiana Tech, is listed at 6-3, 284. The Lions selected McNeill 72nd overall.
Two Inquirer sources confirmed this account, and added that Donahoe didn’t see the need to add another sixth-round pick, which was what the team got for moving back. (The extra pick, 191st overall, turned into Coastal Carolina defensive end Tarron Jackson.)
The biggest quibble many observers had with the Eagles’ draft was that they were expected to address their shaky cornerbacking situation in the first few rounds, and instead waited until the fourth round, 123rd overall, to tab Zech McPhearson, from Texas Tech. Some analysts thought corner Robinson could have gone higher than 71st overall, where the Giants got him. They traded up five spots, moving ahead of the Eagles, after the Eagles traded back.
Asked about Donahoe’s preference by WIP host Angelo Cataldi, Roseman didn’t directly confirm it was McNeill. But he said that in the sixth round, when the Eagles selected USC’s Marlon Tuipulotu (6-2, 310), “we end up getting the nose tackle ... who we had second-day [second- or third-round] grades on. I think, when we look at it, the way it worked out was really good.”
ESPN showed the Eagles’ draft room live after the Williams pick, as Roseman bobbed about the room fist-bumping congratulations. When he got to Donahoe, the 74-year-old former Steelers and Bills general manager reluctantly raised a fist while turning away from Roseman. Roseman then asked Donahoe something, and raised his palms in surprise or frustration over the glowering answer.
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“When you talk about the draft, and the passion people have in the draft in our building ... discussion and debate and having these conversations, it’s OK. You’d rather that. You’d rather have that passion,” Roseman said. “Tom’s been here for a long time. We’ve been together [since 2012]. It’s OK to have tough conversations, and Tom and I have had a lot of them in 10 [drafts].
“That’s why you want people around you who aren’t going to just tell you that everything’s OK. They’re going to give you their perspective, and we have that. I think [player personnel vice president Andy Weidl] said it really right after the second day, when he said, ‘Our job is to make sure we’re fulfilling the vision of the head coach,’ and this guy, fans are gonna love Milton Williams.”
Cataldi asked about reports, including The Inquirer’s, that have alleged past draft mistakes arose from Roseman working from his own board of prospects and not following the organizational board.
“That’s ridiculous,” Roseman said. “Every single person on our staff has their own draft board. That’s how we write up reports. ... We have an Eagles draft board that reflects a lot of things. And my job is to bring them all together. My job is to get the coaches’ perspective, the scouts’ perspective, the medical perspective, the character perspective, as we do this process.”
The allegations, however, concern deviating from the organizational draft board that presumably reflects all these constituencies, weighting one group or person’s evaluation over the consensus.
Asked about a video clip of Denver’s draft room in which Broncos general manager George Paton clearly was on the phone with Roseman, discussing a possible first-round Eagles move from 12th overall to ninth, Roseman said he was trying to get there to draft wide receiver DeVonta Smith. The Eagles would take Smith after trading with Dallas, moving up to 10th and surrendering a third-round pick.
Had they gotten to ninth, the Eagles would have had access to one of Smith’s Alabama teammates, cornerback Patrick Surtain II, the player the Broncos ended up drafting. It might be true that Roseman would have taken Smith over Surtain. It’s certainly true that there would be no advantage to saying otherwise the week after the draft, with Surtain in Denver and Smith representing the Eagles.
“This guy is just an adult, somebody that our fans are going to love,” Roseman said of Smith. “I picture a lot of ‘6′ jerseys in our stadium in the fall and for years to come.”
Staff writer Jeff McLane contributed to this report.