Eagles’ Howie Roseman addresses Jalen Hurts’ extension and next week’s NFL draft

Exactly one week before the opening night of the 2023 NFL draft, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman and coach Nick Sirianni met with reporters Thursday afternoon at the NovaCare Complex.

The Eagles possess six selections, including four picks inside the top 100, and two first-rounders (Nos. 10 and 30).

After they addressed a few questions about recent coaching hires, including former Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia, who was hired as a senior defensive assistant, Roseman, and Sirianni addressed a bevy of draft-related topics. The duo also discussed quarterback Jalen Hurts’ historic five-year contract extension.

Here are three important takeaways from Thursday’s 40-minute news conference.

On Monday, Hurts and the Eagles agreed to a five-year deal worth up to $255 million with $179.3 million. Naturally, any team executive might exert caution when shelling out such a large amount of money to a 24-year-old player, but Roseman indicated the Eagles have zero concerns about Hurts. This past season, Hurts, a 2020 second-round pick, finished as runner-up for NFL MVP and earned second-team All-Pro accolades while leading the Eagles to Super Bowl LVII.

» READ MORE: Jalen Hurts is officially The Man for the Eagles. History says the hard part is ahead.

“From the first day we drafted him,” Roseman said, “he had a vision of what kind of player he was going to be. Everyone he’s been around has rallied around him.

“It’s a great story, and we’re certainly not at the end of the story. I think we’re really at the beginning of the story, but [we’re] just really excited about doing this together with him and having him part of his team and having that done in a way that really worked out well for both sides.”

The Eagles boasted one of the most dynamic offenses in football in 2022. The high-powered machine doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon, either.

Led by Hurts, the offense retains a majority of its playmakers, including four starting offensive linemen in Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Jason Kelce, and Lane Johnson — all of whom earned Pro Bowl honors — and their top three pass catchers, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert. The only two offensive starters who departed in free agency are right guard Isaac Seumalo and running back Miles Sanders.

» READ MORE: The Eagles can’t afford to splurge on Texas superstar Bijan Robinson — or any running back

Second-year offensive lineman Cam Jurgens is penciled in to take over at right guard, while third-year tailback Kenneth Gainwell appears poised to battle with free-agent signee Rashaad Penny for the lead spot in the backfield.

Enter Texas’ Bijan Robinson, widely considered this year’s top running back prospect. The Eagles recently hosted Robinson at the team’s headquarters. During the predraft visit, according to ESPN, Roseman asked Robinson, ‘Why should we take you at No. 10?’”

Robinson replied: “You’re not going to get a running back. You’re going to get a difference-maker.”

No matter how talented Robinson might be, it’s difficult imagining the Eagles deviating from their long-standing draft philosophies, along with the league’s overall shift away from drafting running backs in the first round. For historical context, the Eagles haven’t drafted a running back in the first round since 1986 (Keith Byers).

“I think the most important thing when picking in the first round and certainly when you’re picking at No. 10 is that you get a unique player,” Roseman said. “I think there’s so few unique players in any draft ... if you pick by position and the player’s not any good, then it’s not a good pick anyway. I think the most important thing for us here is that we utilize this opportunity to get a unique player for our team.

“We’re certainly not planning to be picking [this high up] in the near future. Obviously, things happen, but we’re not planning for that. So we understand how important it is to get this right. If you start saying, ‘Hey, we can get a unique player but it’s got to be this position,’ then you really narrow your options.

“We’re trying to be as open-minded as possible about what that looks like. We’re making sure whoever we pick is someone who can really impact the game.”

Since 2000, the Eagles are second only to the Patriots in most trades executed involving a draft pick.

While the Eagles have six picks, they don’t possess a single selection between the fourth and sixth rounds. The team is expected to have up to a dozen selections in next year’s draft.

Exactly how might that affect how Roseman works the phone lines next weekend?

“It’s dependent on the value of the pick we have,” Roseman said. “Last year, when we were picking in the third round, I don’t know if we’ve had as many trade offers as we did for that pick. We felt like we didn’t want to move that pick because of Nakobe [Dean].

» READ MORE: Eagles roundtable: What trades might Howie Roseman make during the NFL draft?

“And last year, we had traded to move up for Jordan [Davis]. The most important thing for us is not necessarily to win the draft in terms of how many picks we can possibly get – but getting the right players. There’s going to be times when our board has a big drop-off and we’ll have a trade offer to move back, and we’ll say, ‘We think the value of this pick is better than getting some of these mid-round picks.’

“...The second part of what makes it really important, that we can prepare for, because we don’t know what’s going to happen over the course of the draft, is we’ve got to be prepared for undrafted free agency. I’m proud of the job our scouts and coaches did last year after the draft in adding [three] guys who made our team [offensive lineman Josh Sills, cornerback Josh Jobe, safety Reed Blankenship]. Those are extra picks.

“We’ve really got to have a good process in place for that. That’s something we can prepare for, so if we come out of this with six picks, then we’re also coming out with a bunch of players after that draft that we think can contribute to this football team.”

» READ MORE: How did agent Nicole Lynn make Jalen Hurts the NFL’s highest-paid player? Let her other clients tell you.