I think Maniac's on point

[BigSlizz]

Howie is a dweeb, but aside from that, he seems to be doing the right things.

I'd rather have a "shake-down" guy running the show than someone bending over give away high draft picks.

Most of the guys we're happy to keep around are Howie guys anyway.

[Two Gap Penetrator]

YES!!!!!!!

WE'VE WON THE DOING-THE-RIGHT-THINGS BOWL!!!

[BigSlizz]

Since 1999, we've seen three models for building a team.

A) Sign your own players.

B) The Dream Team.

C) The Culture Club.

I'll take A, and see where it goes.

[McCarthy12]

Would it be impolite to point out that Howie was JoeLo's right hand man during the building of the Dream Team. He sat next to JoeLo during that press conference where JoeLo was asked "is there room to spend more on free agents" and he answered with a resounding "hell yeah!" after which they both giggled like school children.

Wasn't he also still a personnel executive when DJax was given away for nothing (the beginning of the "culture club")?

That's the thing. Contract work is one leg of the stool. The draft and free agency are the other legs. So far he has proven inept at the latter two.

[BigSlizz]

Not impolite at all. That's how things went down.

But I'm encouraged by the fact that it looks like people seem to be learning.

The Dream Team was the worst, so they tried something new. The Culture Club seemed to be going in an even worse direction, so they decided to abandon ship there, too.

I'm trusting that after 5 years of awfulness, the guy who pays for us to have a team to bitch about is taking a proven course to getting it right.

[The Duck]

Howie is a dweeb, but aside from that, he seems to be doing the right things.

I'd rather have a "shake-down" guy running the show than someone bending over give away high draft picks.

Most of the guys we're happy to keep around are Howie guys anyway.

There's also something to be said for the fact that, despite everything we're hearing from the press about the state of the organization, the best players on the team are signing on the line that is dotted and committing to sticking around long term. Obviously financial security is the primary motivation, but it's a big plus that good players see a promising future in Philly.

We'll see how FA and the draft go (and I'm hopeful they take a minimalist approach to FA), but so far, Howie is doing as good a job as any of us could have reasonably expected.

[McCarthy12]

Fair enough. Heck, nobody wants Howie to fail. And you and Duck are right - so far, so good. The draft is the key. Nail that and I think perhaps the narrative on Howie changes a bit. Personally, I'm very skeptical. Players are signing but money is the huge motivator there. It concerns me that FO professionals seem to have no interest in working with him. But maybe he had a come to Jesus moment with the demotion and he's trying to make changes with how he works with people, etc. We can hope.

[BigSlizz]

Nailing the draft will be tough. He's already set up to fail, IMO, without that second rounder.

If they can sign Bradford, the first pick needs to be OT, then OG in the third. They'll need a fullback at some point, too.

[Sect 236]

They'll need a fullback at some point, too.

I wouldn't be opposed to getting Burton on the field more by lining him up at FB.

[McCarthy12]

He has to nail the first round pick. Can't be a Watkins or Smith (assuming Smith stinks and wasn't just benched because Chip was bitter). Get some serviceable players in later rounds.

If Agholor ends up being a good WR (I didn't see anything last year that indicates he is anything special, although plenty of "experts" seem to think he will be better than he showed) then last year with Agholor, Hicks and Rowe was pretty good. Howie needs to be at least that good.

[Loki]

Break dancing on his head again?

All Howie is doing right now is what Joe Banner taught him to do during those late night sit on Uncle Joe's lap, my little Howie, sessions.


I also want to see who they bring in as their personnel guy. Hopefully it won't be another Pederson-like aw shucks just glad to be here type and someone that actually has a clue and can offer Howie some strong opinions about players. And when that happens, hopefully Howie doesn't go crying off to Jeffrey about how the new guy hurt his feelings and has no emotional intelligence and make him go away, Jeffrey...Make him go AWAY!


He better not draft another Smiff or Fireman in the first round.

[BigSlizz]

OK, so let's go back to Joe Banner for a moment.

Banner did a pretty solid job with the gold standard. His biggest sin was TO, and when it looked like he was doing it with Desean Jackson, he got canned.

I see an evolving philosophy here, and I think that's reason for optimism.

[Loki]

Joe Banner's greatest accomplishment...

was lucking into Andy Reid. Ray Rhodes was a disaster. He and Jeff pushing for the Boston College player, Mamula, over Warren Sapp because Sapp smoked him some weed set the defense back in a huge way. I see the same things in Howie. Nice cap management, but a disaster when it comes to personnel evaluation. I hope I'm wrong, but how can you not think of Smith and Watkins when you think of Howie?


And the TO thing was a sin for Banner? That was more than a sin, Slizz. That was the defining moment and decision to fuck a player in the ass and cost the franchise at least one Super Bowl win. Hey. But Joe's cap was safe and secure from that uppity TOwens. Joe sure showed TO who the boss was. Just like he showed Trotter who the boss was. You don't go into Joe's office and get persnickety with him. And tell me how that has changed when Howie is still running staff out of the Nova Care center?

[wynnron123]

All Howie is doing right now is what Joe Banner taught him to do during those late night sit on Uncle Joe's lap, my little Howie, sessions.
.

All Howie is doing is the obvious no-brainer moves. I'm still amazed with the stat that Howie is probably the only GM with the longest tenure of any team that hasn't won a playoff game

[BigSlizz]

I don't think any of us know how that's changed. But I'm seeing a lot of guys that I'd be pissed if they left sticking around. That's a good sign. That's the big difference right now between us and a Browns situation.

Kirwan has been ripping the shit out of the Browns the past few days on his radio show. I don't see that type of dysfunction here.