“Things will sort themselves out.”
That was Nick Sirianni’s synopsis on the perceived training camp competitions that kicked off earlier this week.
The idea that means all the answers are in-house for the Eagles' head coach is not necessarily the case.
For the past four years, GM Howie Roseman has made an August trade.
In 2021, Roseman made a move with Jacksonville for what turned into a cost-effective backup quarterback for two seasons in Gardner Minshew. A year later, “Trader Howie” hit a home run at the initial cutdown to 53 by snaring playmaking safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who tied for the NFL lead in interceptions for an NFC Championship team despite missing five games.
The needle didn’t move in 2023, but Roseman tried with athletic tight end Albert Okwuegbunam, and last summer it was receiver Jahan Dotson, who isn’t a high-volume target due to the presence of A.J Brown and DeVonta Smith but is easily the top WR3 Philadelphia has had in the Sirianni era.
In other words, the smart money is that Roseman isn't standing pat after things are "sorted out."
The Eagles are projected to have 13 picks in next year’s draft so there’s plenty of capital for optionality.
“Those can be used to improve the team this year,” Roseman said earlier this week. “They can be used to improve the team next year. They could be used to improve the team in the third year.”
There are also sneaky player-for-player trade options like Dotson, who is likely to walk after the final year of his rookie deal signed as a first-round pick in Washington, especially if someone like Terrace Marshall Jr. continues to excel. Or Sydney Brown, who doesn’t seem like the best fit for a Vic Fangio's scheme, if the third-year safety loses out to rookie Drew Mukuba in the summer safety sweepstakes.
All eyes should be on the defensive front. The edge is the more obvious need, but the Eagles’ actions in the days leading up to camp highlighted that there is at least some concern about what is typically a strength for the team.
Philadelphia signed veteran edge defender Ogbo Okoronkwo and defensive tackles Jacob Sykes and Joe Evans earlier in the week.
“I think from our perspective, whatever opportunity comes about that can improve this football team,” Roseman said. “I mean, if there's an incremental difference on a player who's the 90th guy from a guy who's on the street, we're going to make that change and we owe that to our fans, we owe that to our players, we owe that to [Chairman and Chief Executive Officer] Jeffrey [Lurie] to do whatever we can to keep improving the talent level on the team.”
Plan A remains in-house development.
“I think that's a tribute to coach and his staff about wanting young players to develop understanding these talented players that can help us,” Roseman said. “We saw it last year with our team really. We've seen it since Nick's been here that they want the best players to play. If they're young players with incredible talent, that's why you're drafting guys high. It's a great opportunity for our young players to understand that playtime's available and that's going to be sorted out through competition through every day.”
That said, what defines Roseman’s greatness as a GM is his contingencies.
“There's not a day that goes by that we don't talk about this roster, including in the offseason and talk about what we're looking for and what we're seeing and what we really need,” said Roseman, “And so I think our message to our players is go compete and let things lay out there.
… The way that I look at it is that we have a lot of young players coming down the pipeline that we want to keep in Philadelphia, but we want to win and we want to win right now. We want to win next year and we want to win going forward. That's my job to try to balance it and I'll do whatever I can to make sure that that happens.”
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