Howie Roseman didn't have his finest moment as Philadelphia Eagles general manager over the weekend, through no fault of his own. The draft war room is reality television at its finest, showcasing the emotions and reactions as teams snag a player on their board.
Senior director of player personnel Tom Donahoe made Roseman go viral on social media for all the wrong reasons. Roseman was attempting to fist bump members in the front office once the Eagles selected Milton Williams in the third round Friday, but didn't get that from Donahoe. The Eagles traded down from No. 70 to No. 73 in the third round, acquiring an extra sixth-round pick in the process -- which they used to select Coastal Carolina defensive end Tarron Jackson.
The backstory behind the diss was that Donnahoe didn't agree with the selection of Williams, but as Roseman explains -- there was more to the disagreement.
"We're at pick 70, we have two guys standing out on our board, two defensive guys. Two defensive linemen, and they're different. Different flavors. One is a three technique and one is more of a nose tackle. Obviously everyone likes different flavors," Roseman said on SportsRadio 94 WIP Tuesday, via Crossing Broad. "Carolina calls and they're picking two picks behind us, and (general manager) Scott Fitterer says 'Howie, you want to drop down two picks for our top-of-the-sixth-round pick?' I said, 'you gotta tell me offense or defense' and he told me they were taking an offensive player. So we know we're gonna get one of these two (defensive players). And when we talk to our coaches about their fit and role they're excited about these two guys. So one of them goes (McNeill), and then we take Milton Williams.
"When I saw that video of our defensive coordinator (Jonathan Gannon), how excited he was, that's the kind of excitement people have about Milton Williams in our building."
The Detroit Lions were the team that took McNeill at No. 72 overall, one pick before the Eagles were up. Carolina took offensive tackle Brady Christiansen at No. 70 and the New York Giants traded up to No. 71 to select cornerback Aaron Robinson at No. 71, the player many assumed Donahoe was upset over the Eagles not getting.
So as it turned out, the player the Eagles took was a defensive tackle, just not the one Donahoe wanted. Roseman didn't have to go this route, but he defended Donahoe -- labeled by the Eagles as "an important voice within the organization's player evaluation department."
"You'd rather have that passion. Tom's been here for a long time," Roseman said. "We've been together 10 years, extremely close relationship. It's okay to have tough conversations and Tom and I have had a lot of them in 10 years. That's why you want people around you who aren't just going to tell you that everything is okay. They're going to give you their perspective."
