Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman has always made the right moves, but there will be some difficult ones this winter.
As the Eagles have continued to play the way they have due to their talent, the financial math situation isn’t one that can be avoided, as multiple players want to be paid.
Speaking about roster construction and long-term planning, Roseman acknowledged that, as most teams figure out, he simply can’t pay everyone.
“As you get better, you have a natural arc of the team,” Roseman said, per NBC Sports Philly. “I think that when you look at our team, we drafted a lot of offensive players, we resigned a lot of offensive players, (then) we drafted a lot of defensive players that were young on rookie contracts. There's natural transition in what we do. I'm not making an excuse or anything, but there's a national transition in that in terms of what you're paying your guys, which side of the ball you're paying guys who are coming up.
“The important thing for us is that there are players that we can't lose. I mean obviously, we are going to do what's best for us … and we want to keep (players) around here because they're really good players, homegrown players that are really good people that are part of our core. With that, you're going to have to make sacrifices. That’s on me to make sure that the sacrifices we make are filled in with really good players, again.”
The Eagles have built a great team on both sides of the football, doing so in large part due to Roseman being smart in the draft, trades, and contracts.
Now, some of those younger players are approaching extensions, including one he recently traded for in Jaelan Phillips.
The hard part now will be centered around who he wants to give money to and who he’s OK with moving on from. The Eagles will also have other free agents to consider outside of their own.
Players will leave, and it’s a harsh reality, but it’s also the price of being good for a long time.