Howie Roseman has been the Philadelphia Eagles’ general manager for 14 of the past 15 years, which is kind of nuts to think about. He started back in 2010, got shoved into a broom closet by Chip Kelly in 2015, took back over in 2016, and has been going steady ever since.
In those 14 years, he’s made some phenomenal free-agent signings, like Malcolm Jenkins in 2014, Brandon Brooks in 2016, Nick Foles in 2017, and of course, Saquon Barkley and Zack Baun in 2024. Unfortunately, he’s got some blemishes on his record, and those blemishes are pretty massive.
Free agency hasn’t always been great for Howie Roseman
Howie Roseman has had a whole lot more significant free-agent hits than he’s had misses, which probably explains the Eagles' success under him.
In an offseason like this, where the Eagles haven’t made a whole lot of huge free-agent signings, it’s important to remember the misses and what Roseman has/is avoiding. It’s especially important because this free agency class isn’t great and it’d be easy to sign a player for a disgusting amount of money when, in any other season, that player would be worth significantly less.
When we’re looking at this, we’re ignoring the 2015 Chip Kelly season, where he signed DeMarco Murray, Byron Maxwell, and Miles Austin. Howie Roseman doesn’t get the heat from Kelly’s buffoonery.
These are the three worst Howie Roseman free agent signings, starting from the most recent:
2024: Bryce Huff
The Jets signed Bryce Huff as an undrafted free agent in 2020. He was a relative nothing-burger for them up until the 2023 season when he had 29 tackles, 10 sacks, and 21 QB hits. To be fair, those are good numbers… they’re entirely misleading, but they are good numbers.
He came to the Eagles after Haason Reddick left the team in free agency. Reddick was the clutch sack machine, racking up 27 sacks in his two seasons with the Eagles. With him gone, there was a massive hole in the roster.
Bryce Huff signed a three-year $51.1 million deal to fill that hole. He didn’t, and it was pretty clear from the get-go. He was getting blocked one-on-one by tight ends in the running game, showing nothing in the pass rush, and then he ended up hurting his hand and missing time.
He ended up being inactive in the Super Bowl, which is wild. 36-year-old Brandon Graham was playing his first game since he tore his triceps 11 weeks prior. We didn’t know if he was going to be able to play the entire game, because he could’ve easily reinjured himself on the first play (he ended up reinjuring himself and playing the rest of the game because he’s a superhero).
To know that kind of possibility, you would think the Eagles would keep another edge rusher active, just in case. It turns out that Bryce Huff is bad and inconsistent enough that they would make him inactive.
He’s reported to be on the trading block now, but who knows how that will turn out. Regardless, he got paid an enormously regrettable amount of money to be bad.
2012: Demetress Bell
The Bills drafted Demetress Bell in the seventh round of the 2008 draft. The only full season he played was with Buffalo in 2010. The difference was that in Buffalo, that lack of playing time was due to his inexperience and an injury. In Philadelphia, it was because he was straight-up terrible.
Left tackle Jason Peters tore his Achilles in the offseason, so the Eagles needed someone to come in and take over for him and they signed Bell to a five-year $34.5 million deal. After nine games and five starts, the Eagles saw what they needed to see from Bell, and threw in King Dunlap who was just as bad. They flip-flopped between the two through the season which, predictably, went terribly.
Michael Vick and Nick Foles were sacked 48 times that season, the Eagles had an eight-game losing streak, ended the season with a 4-12 record, and Andy Reid left. That wasn’t all due to Bell, but it was kind of a sign of things to come.
2011: Nnamdi Asomugha
2011 was a bad year for Eagles free agent signings. They signed wide receiver Steve Smith who was a pro bowler with the Giants in 2009, only to have 11 catches for 124 yards and a touchdown with the Eagles.
Then there was Vince Young, who was signed to be Michael Vick’s backup. It wasn’t necessarily about how Young played, but he made the really infamous and equally stupid “Dream Team” comment that doomed the team.
Those two paled in comparison to the signing of Nnadhi Asomugha, who is probably the most hyped-up free agent signing the Eagles have ever made (up there with Saquon Barkley).
Asomugha was a four-time All-Pro cornerback, including each of the three seasons before he came to Philadelphia. So it seemed like a good thing that the Eagles signed him to a then-franchise-record five-year $60 million deal. It started bad and went to ‘this is actually the worst thing ever’.
To be fair, the 2011 season wasn’t necessarily his fault. Juan Castillo was the Eagles’ defensive coordinator at the time, despite having never been a defensive coach in his professional career. That lack of experience showed up big time.
He constantly had the Eagles playing a zone defense. Asomugha was famously elite when he was playing man, so he looked and played like he had some kind of mental block in that defense. Miraculously, he was a Pro Bowl alternate that season (which just goes to show that the Pro Bowl has never meant anything).
In 2012, Castillo changed the defense up and decided to let Asomugha play more man. It turns out that didn’t really matter because he actually played much, much worse and he became the epitome of cornerbacks falling off a cliff after they turn 30 years old.
Before he came to the Eagles, he allowed a 72.6 passer rating. In 2011, that number jumped up to 88.6. In 2012, that number exploded to 120.6. For reference, Cooper DeJean just allowed an 80.1 passer rating and in 2023, James Bradberry allowed a 114.3. Asomugha went from Better than DeJean to worse than Bradberry… in just two years.
The lack of production, mixed with huge amounts of playing time and an enormous paycheck make Nnamdi Asomugha the worst free agent signing by Howie Roseman.
Luckily, that was very early in his career as a general manager. At this point, it seems super unlikely that he’d make that same mistake… that being said, Bryce Huff is kind of close, especially if the Eagles aren’t able to move off of him.
Just be thankful that Howie Roseman understood what was available in free agency this year and didn’t reach to sign a slightly above-average player to elite money.