Howie Roseman

Q. When you look at the top 10 and the quarterbacks that are in this class, how much movement do you expect going into that group of picks? (Mike Kaye)

HOWIE ROSEMAN: I think there are a lot of good quarterbacks. It’s a quarterback league, and so our assumption is these talented guys — we’re not in that market, so hopefully they all go, to be honest with you. But they’re talented enough to go.

We do our work on them just like we do our work on every player in the draft. These are talented guys at the top of the draft, and I think there will be a lot of competition for them.

Q. What was the opportunity like when you had a second-round pick and a quarterback to build around with the other pieces, what was that like? (Reporter)

HOWIE ROSEMAN: [Jokingly] You want me to get sentimental about how it was before we pay our quarterback? I think it’s the nature of the business. I think the better thing is when you have a quarterback that’s good enough that you want to pay him and that he has a chance to be a great player. Show him what kind of player he’s going to be.

If you don’t have a quarterback, you’re searching for one, and you can’t win in this league without a great quarterback who plays at a high level. We saw how [QB] Jalen [Hurts] played in the Super Bowl, on the biggest stage, and that’s exciting for our team, for our fans, for all of us.

Q. Seahawks Executive VP Of Football Operations/Head Coach Pete Carroll said today that Sean Desai is coming to Philly. Can you confirm Pete Carroll’s statement? (Geoff Mosher)

HOWIE ROSEMAN: I would love for [Head] Coach [Nick] Sirianni to talk about the coaches. I think that’s his area.

Q. But you wouldn’t call Pete Carroll a liar, right? (Geoff Mosher)

HOWIE ROSEMAN: I would not call Pete Carroll a liar [smiling].

Q. What’s the combine process and draft process like? Who is taking charge and how is that working? (Zach Berman)

HOWIE ROSEMAN: At the end of the day, the responsibility is mine. I don’t say that in any way other than that I take that very seriously and I think we have a process that has spanned different front offices. Hasn’t always been perfect, but we do have a process and a way of doing things.

At the same time, if someone comes in and has an idea that can make that process better, let’s do that. Best idea has to win. It’s funny when you said that I hadn’t really thought about that fully, but we have had a lot of communication, a lot of conversation about the things that we’re looking for at each certain segment.

At the end of the day, it’s my job to outline a vision of what we’re looking for, whether it’s at the All-Star games, the combine, free agent process, the draft process. I think the lines of communication have been great. There are a lot of really great, talented guys we have in our front office, and I’m looking forward to working with them.

Q. With the number of pending free agents you have, how do you approach this off-season? (Dave Zangaro)

HOWIE ROSEMAN: We talked about it a little bit in Philly at our end-of-season press conference. At the end of the day, our job during the season is to prepare for the off-season.

It’s not like we wake up the day after the Super Bowl, and we say, “Oh, man now we have to go figure out the team.” This is what we’ve been doing. We have been doing it during the season, in the off-season.

I wake up every morning thinking about this football team, and I go to bed every night thinking about this football team. It’s constant communication about some of the things we are going to do.

At the same time, we’re going to prioritize the things that are important to us, that we build our team on. We’re going to make sure those areas are strong. Are we going to get all the free agents back? We’re just not. We’re not capable of getting all those guys back, but we also understand we’re in a good situation in terms of picks that we have going forward. We have a lot of guys under contract, not only for this year, but going forward. We’re not going to make excuses for the position we’re in.

Q. Do you think that RB Kenny Gainwell is the kind of guy that can take on more of a lead back role? (Reporter)

HOWIE ROSEMAN: [RB] Kenny [Gainwell] is an impressive young player. When you watch him and his skillset, he has really good vision. He has the ability to get small and get skinny and he can catch the ball, he can protect. He’s a good player.

We’ve also seen in this league that you need more than one. It’s hard to roll with just one running back in this league. I think we’re happy with Kenny; we know also that he hasn’t hit his ceiling yet. Obviously, he had a good playoff run, but it is a position we are going to continue to add at. We don’t have a lot of guys under contract right now, so we will continue to look at players at that position and a lot of positions.

Q. With the free agency you were talking about, when you have that many, do you make an offer to each one or do you know there will only be so many that you can talk to? (Geoff Mosher)

HOWIE ROSEMAN: I think it’s hard to make offers that aren’t really in the range of what a player is going to get. Our players, what they have done for us and how they have worked and the character that they have shown and the success they have had, we’re just going to be honest with them and basically tell them, if it’s a guy that we’re interested in, we’ll tell him the range.

We understand that they put themselves in this position, they’ve taken the injury risk to get in this spot, and just very appreciative of them. We had unbelievable chemistry and an unbelievable group of guys. It is going to be hard to duplicate that, but that doesn’t mean we can’t going forward.

I think just obviously we took a little bit of a different tactic this year. Usually, we like to sign guys early and sign guys during the season, and because of how hot we started, how well we did, and how many free agents we had, we thought it would create a different dynamic if we started to pick one guy and not another guy.

We understood that could cost us in the end, but we felt like it was worthwhile because of the opportunity to potentially win a championship. Unfortunately, we came up short.

Q. Where do things stand with you and QB Jalen Hurts on the contract and are you confident you’ll be able to get a deal done this offseason? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

HOWIE ROSEMAN: I wouldn’t feel comfortable talking about contract situations with anyone. I think you know that. At the same time, tremendous respect for him as a player, as a person. Tremendous respect for the people that work with him to do this, and you go through it in a way that you want to find a win-win solution.

You want to find something that he feels really good about, and at the same time that we feel good about and surround him with good players. He knows that. He’s a smart guy. He understands that. That doesn’t mean that it’s not going to be a tremendous contract for him because he deserves that, too.

Q. In the first round last year you took DT Jordan Davis; later you got LB Nakobe Dean. Where are those young guys at? I know Jordan had some injuries, but your thoughts reflecting back on those guys? (Reporter)

HOWIE ROSEMAN: I think that’s part of the exciting thing. When you look at our first three picks last year, [DT] Jordan [Davis] played the most of those guys. Missed some time with injury but those guys are ready to play and they are ready to contribute. We knew when we were drafting them last year we were drafting them because we thought they were the best players, not necessarily because they were the guys ready to fill spots at a position of need.

So, as we look at our team this year, knowing that those guys can take a step forward and be part of it, and being comfortable with the young players playing and young players that have talent and that have work ethic and get put in that spot. We even saw it this year when we put young players in spots and how they stepped up. I don’t think that’s something we’re afraid of.

Q. There have been some conversations about the league addressing these quarterback push plays that you’ve used with QB Jalen Hurts and so forth. Do you have any reaction to that? Any thoughts on maybe why that is now a topic of conversation? (Reporter)

HOWIE ROSEMAN: I think that’s a better question for [Head] Coach [Nick] Sirianni. All I know is everything we’re doing is legal and it works, and just because people do something that’s really good, doesn’t mean it should be outlawed.

Q. Looking back over the past year and how QB Jalen Hurts grew to get to the point now where he’s the guy you want to pay, what were some of the keys along the way for him to make a major improvement from year two to three? (Reporter)

HOWIE ROSEMAN: I think the reasons we drafted [QB] Jalen [Hurts] are he’s an elite competitor, he is an elite worker, and he has elite talent. I think sometimes we use words like ‘worker’ and ‘competitive nature’ that kind of frame it in a way that the guy is not extremely talented. Jalen is an elite talent.

He has elite arm strength. Anything you tell him to do, you saw his completion percentage, his accuracy jump. At the end of the day, he has a special talent, and you combine that with a special football mind and special work ethic, and it gives him a chance to be a special player.

Q. How can the offense continue to be dominant under Offensive Coordinator Brian Johnson? (Reporter)

HOWIE ROSEMAN: I think obviously [former Eagles Offensive Coordinator/Indianapolis Colts Head Coach] Shane [Steichen], who’s here, huge part of our success, and congratulations to him and [Arizona Cardinals Head Coach Jonathan Gannon] JG. We’ll miss those guys, but [Offensive Coordinator] Brian [Johnson] is extremely talented. Brian has a great offensive mind. Obviously, Coach Sirianni, too, a huge part of what we do everywhere, especially on offense.

When you meet Brian and spend time with Brian, and you see how he connects with players and thinks about the game. He’s a talented, talented coach, and excited for his opportunity.

Q. When would you need an answer from C Jason Kelce on his future? (Jeff McLane)

HOWIE ROSEMAN: When is our first game? I mean, he’s a special player, special person. I think that whatever his timeline is, we’re willing to work with him.

I think I’m doing his podcast tomorrow, so maybe we’ll have a conversation on it tomorrow. I’ll say you brought it up.

Q. How are you preparing in the next few months to get back to the highest stage of the Super Bowl and this time win it all? (Giovanni)

HOWIE ROSEMAN: I know. Now you’re making me disappointed again. For us, we have to take it one day at a time. We have to continue to do the things we think are right.

It’s a long way away until we play the next game, and we were talking about it on our flight over here, that you get to training camp and you’re so excited for the first day of training camp and then I sit at my desk and look at the calendar and go, oh my God, we have like 90 days until the first game.

I think for right now, all we can do right now is take this process, which is meeting these players. We have two first round picks. Make sure that we just make good decisions after good decisions, we stack those together, and we’ll end up having a really good team, and we’ll get to camp and try to bring them all together.