Howie Roseman: 'Not Ideal, But Vets And Defense Can Help Carson Wentz'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Philadelphia Eagles shocked the football world over the weekend by trading their starting quarterback eight days before the regular season opener.
The Eagles traded Sam Bradford to the Minnesota Vikings for a 2017 first-round pick and a conditional 2018 pick. But that's not at all.
Two days later, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson named rookie quarterback Carson Wentz from North Dakota State as the team's Week 1 starter over Chase Daniel.
The executive vice president of football operations for the Eagles, Howie Roseman, joined the 94WIP Morning Show on Tuesday to discuss the wild weekend.
"This was not the blueprint, but what we saw in training camp was a defense that was getting after it," Roseman said on Tuesday, when asked why he made the trade. "That was quickly adjusting to Coach [Jim] Schwartz's scheme. We saw that we had a veteran offensive line, we had some players on our offense -- a Jason Peters, a Darren Sproles, who were able to help this transition. Brent Celek.
Listen: Howie Roseman on the 94WIP Morning Show
"And so, for us, when we look at the guys who have done it as rookies and had success -- the Russell Wilson's, Ben Roethlisberg's, Joe Flacco's. Obviously there's a list of guys, great players, that have gone the other way. But the guys that have success it's been based on having a strong defense and being able to support those guys with offensive line player, running back, tight ends. And so for all of us, that was part of the equation."
Related: Carson Wentz Named Starting Quarterback For Eagles
Originally, the Eagles' plan was for Wentz to watch and learn for a season behind Bradford. But when the Vikings lost their starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater after a gruesome leg injury during practice and became desperate for a QB, the Eagles had to change their plan.
"Now, you have to adjust on the fly when you get opportunities in no matter what you're doing," Roseman said. "And we just felt like this was an opportunity because we want to try to build something great. We want to try to build something that's not just kind of playoffs. We want to bring Philadelphia a world championship and part of that is what we have on the field now, but also being in position to add to that going forward. And this gives us the opportunity -- not only in the draft -- but being able to use the money that Sam was due the next two years to go get more players."
Roseman understands there will be times where Wentz struggles as a rookie, as all first-year NFL QB's do, but he believes the Eagles have created a favorable situation for Wentz to thrive in.
"Hopefully that's not the case, but obviously there's a certain set of circumstances where maybe that's a possibility," Roseman says. "But we're hoping, because of the rest of the team rallying around him, that we can take it like this. And we can help him out, and we know we're going to have to do that anyway. He's got to get experience at some point. So was this our ideal plan? No. But we do feel like based on what we've seen in training camp and the rest of our team, that he's got opportunity here where it doesn't need to be all about him. We can help him with this transition period."
