March 16, 2026
You about to read you something will find nowhere in the mainstream Philadelphia sports media. I just hope you’re ready for it.
Howie Roseman is having a horrible offseason.
It is a sacrilege these days to write or say (or think, really) anything negative about arguably the best general manager any Philly team has ever had.
Hey, those two Lombardi trophies are not a mirage. Howie has earned the acclaim. To the victor go the spoils.
But what he did in the past should have little to do with appraising his current work. And, based on recent developments, Howie Roseman’s performance over the past six weeks has been abysmal.
Let’s start with the biggest decision of the winter, replacing the offensive coordinator who ruined a promising 2025 season, Kevin Patullo. (I’m still trying to figure out how the GM and his hands-on owner Jeff Lurie allowed that hideous hire to happen a year ago.)
It’s inconceivable that Roseman would allow head coach Nick Sirianni to make the same mistake three times, hiring another totally unproven play-caller, Sean Mannion, to follow in the potholes created by Brian Johnson and Patullo.
And yet, here we are. The first play of the 2026 season will be the first call Sean Mannion has ever made. Hey, maybe he will be brilliant at it. Maybe he will defy the odds. More likely, however, is that he will be like most novices and will bumble through his expensive audition.
Meanwhile, Vic Fangio will be asked to perform another miracle, a challenge he was reluctant to embark on as recently as a month or so ago. And with good reason. The longtime defensive coordinator will have even less to work with this time around, thanks to Roseman.
The GM watched three outstanding defensive players walk away last week at the start of free agency. Goodbye, Jaelan Phillips, Nakobe Dean and Reed Blankenship. By most accounts, Howie was in contention only for Phillips, for whom he gave up a third-round pick at the trade deadline last season.
Add those prominent names onto the list of defensive players lost last winter – Milton Williams, Josh Sweat, Avonte Maddox, Darius Slay and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson – and you have eight of the 11 starters from the championship defense gone.
This is not good roster management.
This is madness.
Granted, Roseman made one meaningful move by signing CB Tariq Woolen off the champion Seattle roster, but even that deal was dubious. Howie paid a premium price — $15 million – for one year of Woolen’s services.
And it’s never a good sign when the team that lost a top player is doing cartwheels after the announcement. Woolen was hard to like in Seattle, despite his speed and ball skills. He was known there as much for his taunting penalties and missed meetings as he was for his play.
Didn’t Roseman dump Gardner-Johnson twice – after Super-Bowl seasons, no less – because CGJ was toxic to the clubhouse culture? Much like his recent OC antics, Howie seems to keep repeating the same mistakes.
It is also worth noting that Woolen left Seattle because the Seahawks valued another young cornerback, Josh Jobe, higher than him. That name might ring a bell. Roseman released Jobe two years ago, explaining that there were just too many better options.
When a bunch of those options found better deals elsewhere, suddenly Howie had no choice but to overpay for a new troublemaker, even before he had found a way to escape the fat contract of an old troublemaker, A.J. Brown.
After that, every other signing of a blah free-agency season had the same last name – Who? Because of the salary cap, Roseman did most of his shopping this offseason in the scratch-and-dent aisle. Usually that strategy leads to a scratch-and-dent season.
Maybe it’s just me, but more and more I am beginning to believe that the championship window for the Eagles slammed shut last season, and the descent back to reality has already begun. The 2026 roster, minus the draft picks, is a far cry from the 2024 edition.
Of course, you will not read or hear a negative assessment like this anywhere else because no media person wants to challenge the brilliance of Howie Roseman, nor diminish the admiration for owner Jeff Lurie. It’s safer to paint in rose colors.
Sorry. I was around when the playbook for criticizing Philadelphia sports figures was being written, and it demands honesty over bruised feelings, reality over pipe dreams.
So far, Howie Roseman has had a horrible off-season.
Somebody had to tell the truth.
I did something that went against my nature over the weekend. I made Joshua Harris richer.
To celebrate my 75th birthday, my family of 10 (including three generations of Cataldis ranging from 3 to 75) bought tickets in the Rev Row at the very top of the Xfinity Mobile Arena. After the tickets, parking, treats ($40 for three bags of M & Ms!) and soft drinks, the final price tag was over $1,000.
Of course, because I am a certified authority on Philadelphia sports, I carefully hand-picked an exciting matchup between the Sixers (missing their entire starting lineup with injuries) and the Brooklyn Nets, who are actively trying to lose.
In the end, it was a fun day, no thanks to the owner of the 76ers, the penny-pinching billionaire Harris. I realize most pro sports now are a massive hustle. If you leave with any money left, they are disappointed. The object clearly is to clean you out.
As I was waiting in traffic for half an hour after the inevitable Sixer win, I had no complaints about sharing an afternoon with the people I love most in my life. It is a day I will recall with joy, thanks to those people.
But I can’t help wondering if enough will ever be enough for Harris and his other greedy billionaire owners in all four major sports. At what point will the guy trying to feed his family receive the consideration of people who live a life of champagne and caviar? Will there ever be a point when Josh Harris and his billionaire brethren realize they’re rich enough?
Not a chance. The only scoreboard that matters to carpetbaggers like Harris is the amount of his net worth, which just keeps climbing at the expense of the people who love his teams.
Next year, I think we’ll celebrate my birthday with a cookout. The food will be a lot better, and parking is free.
Unfinished business. . . .
- I appeared on WIP legend Howard Eskin’s podcast last week, during which we both lamented – accurately – the lack of serious critical commentary in Philly sports talk, inspiring Howard’s son Spike, an afternoon host at our old station, to rip us on X . Hey, Spike, get back to us when you’ve done that job for 35 years, or more, the way we did.
- Dallas Goedert, one of the top-10 tight ends in the NFL for the eight seasons, is now the 23rd-best-paid player at his position after having to accept another below-market offer ($7 million) from the Eagles. Does Roseman ever worry about what’s fair when he hardballs loyal players like Goedert? Well, he should. Goedert has been treated badly by the Eagles the past two years now.
- Phillies GM Dave Dombrowski’s comment that upset Bryce Harper last fall apparently is having, at best, a delayed effect in inspiring the not-so-elite Phillies superstar. At the World Baseball Classic, Harper is batting .167 with no homers and one RBI. He has struck out in 8 of 24 plate appearances. Can you imagine if the Phils gave Harper the extension he was seeking last year? Even without it, he has six years left on his $330-million deal. Ugh.
- I’m not a big fan these days of the NBA, which has become a three-point shooting contest by players who are injured more than ever before. But I love good sports documentaries, including a new one on Amazon Prime called Soul Power: The Legend of the American Basketball Association. Julius Erving has never been more impressive, then and now, than in that film. Check it out.
- On the occasion of my 75th birthday last week, Rhea Hughes organized a surprise reunion of everyone from our old WIP show, including Rhea, Keith Jones, Joe Weachter and Al Morganti. Al even brought me a birthday card. In big letters, it proclaimed: Happy 80thBirthday. Al hasn’t changed a bit.