Howie’s Savage and Surgical Draft Strategy Keeps Birds’ Super Bowl Window Wide Open

The teams that win the most Super Bowls are the ones whose Super Bowl window generally stays open the longest.  The Philadelphia Eagles window just became a hole in the wall if the 2025 NFL Draft plays out like the most recent ones have.  Once again, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman found a way to make it look easy while frustrating the rest of the league.

Will this draft class stand the test of time the way recent Eagles classes have? It’s too early to say for sure. But if the blueprint is any indication, Roseman’s ability to stack value and talent, and tap the SEC pipeline has once again turned in one of the smartest drafts in the NFL.

Entering the draft with eight picks, Philadelphia came away with 10 players, thanks to a flurry of typical savvy trades, and only one aggressive move upward.

The Eagles made five trades during the draft, but just one of them was a move up – a surgical one-spot climb to secure Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell at No. 31 overall.  It was only a one slot move because Roseman was unable to get some other teams like Minnesota and Miami to bite on a trade.

The other deals were strategic trade-backs designed to accumulate more picks and future flexibility , a classic Roseman move, showing patience, planning, and the ability to let the draft board come to him.

In an era where some GMs panic and reach, Roseman played the board like a master.

Defense, Power, and Value

The first five picks Philadelphia made were all on the defensive side of the ball, a clear commitment to maintaining and strengthening a unit that already finished No. 1 overall last season.

It’s almost become formulaic because once again, Roseman leaned into what has worked: drafting from college football’s powerhouse programs, especially the SEC.

• With the selection of Jihaad Campbell (Alabama), the Eagles continued their tradition of betting on blue-chip defensive athletes from the SEC.  Campbell was one of four players drafted from the SEC Conference.
• Linebacker Smael Monden Jr. (Georgia) became the eighth former Bulldog on Philadelphia’s defense (six drafted, two free-agent signings), further cementing Georgia as the NFL’s farm system and the Eagles as its biggest beneficiary, always one step ahead of the Packers, who employ seven former Dawgs.

The Eagles other notable additions included two players from Texas, two players with strong NFL bloodlines (Drew Kendall and Myles Hinton, both had fathers who played in the league), and even a quarterback, Kyle McCord, who returns home after starring at St. Joseph’s Prep before playing at Ohio State and Syracuse.

Birds Are Reloaded

This wasn’t a splashy draft, but more of a steady stream of quiet confidence and secure competence.  This was a measured, methodical roster reload, exactly what a defending Super Bowl champion needs to extend its window.

Meet the new boys.

• First Round: LB Jihaad Campbell (Alabama, 31st overall)
• Second Round: DB Andrew Mukuba (Texas, 64th)
• Fourth Round: DT Ty Robinson (Nebraska, 111th)
• Fifth Round: CB Mac McWilliams (Central Florida, 145th)
  
  LB Smael Monden Jr. (Georgia, 161st)
  
  C Drew Kendall (Boston College, 168th)
• Sixth Round:
  
  QB Kyle McCord (Syracuse, 181st)
  
  OL Myles Hinton (Michigan, 191st)
  
  OL Cameron Williams (Texas, 207th)
  
  EDGE Antwuan Powell-Ryland (Virginia Tech, 209th)

Emotional Intelligence

The only player Howie Roseman was willing to spend future capital to move up for was Jihaad Campbell.  Why?  Because Campbell is a projected star and when you value stars the way the Eagles do, sometimes you have to pay the price.  Sorry for laughing but the price here was a one-slot flip with the Kansas City Chiefs and a fifth round pick next year – small price to pay.  If the other teams that Howie was trying to tempt to move up summarily turned Roseman down, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  Some may call it luck but Howie’s “luck” may be that his reputation precedes him as a draft and trade shark, one that best serves you to simply hang up on him.  That’s where the game is sometimes won or lost before its even played because if you can get inside your opponent’s head before the ball is even kicked off,  you’ve already won.

Campbell projects as a versatile linebacker who can thrive in Vic Fangio’s hybrid system, giving the Eagles another elite athlete who can cover ground, disrupt quarterbacks, and terrorize offenses from multiple alignments.

Beyond that one slightly aggressive move, every other trade was about sliding back, adding picks, and increasing flexibility, the exact opposite of desperation.

Roseman understands something too many GMs forget: Championship windows stay open longer when you keep feeding young, cheap, talented players onto your roster. 

D-E-F-E-N-S-E

Clearly the goal was to reload the defensive side of the ball and that’s why the Birds took six defensive players out of the 10 selections they had.  This wasn’t just a draft.  This was a calculated extension of the Eagles’ blueprint.  Smart scouting. Strategic aggression. Relentless roster optimization.  That is the formula for success and success breeds success.  Panic moves wreak of insecurity which may have been Howie’s biggest issue once upon a time.  

This draft wasn’t flashy it was foundational and when you’re already at the top, staying there is even harder than getting there.

In just a few short years, Howie Roseman has gone from insecure, unsure, and abrasive to a compelling self-assurance and a presence that precedes him.   He now carries himself with a quiet swagger that comes from a confidence that is earned by his preparation and a presence that echoes long after he leaves a room.