Nick Sirianni’s forceful vote of confidence from Howie Roseman, and some A.J. Brown trade talk highlight Eagles news conference

There isn’t a whole lot of literal truth you can glean in most press conference settings. That’s especially true in the NFL, where the shield on the logo carries more than a little metaphorical weight. They are messaging platforms, not intelligence briefings. It can be frustrating. It can also be instructive, in certain moments.

» READ MORE: After embarrassing Kevin Patullo pile-on, Eagles must make Mike McDaniel their main OC target

Take Howie Roseman, for instance. On Thursday afternoon, the Eagles general manager was sitting next to Nick Sirianni listening to the head coach wind down an answer to a question about the team’s search for a new offensive coordinator. As soon as Sirianni finished speaking, several reporters began talking over each other to ask the next question. But Roseman had something he wanted to add, and jumped in.

“I’ve got a lot of things I could say about coach and the job that he’s done here,” the general manager said. “I’m incredibly proud of him. He’s shown that when we bring people in he’s open to doing whatever’s best for this football team. That’s all he cares about is winning. When he’s brought in people he’s given them the flexibility to put their own spin on things. Obviously I sit here and I feel incredibly grateful that I’m working with someone who as a head coach is elite at being a head coach, elite at building a connection with our team, elite about talking about fundamentals, game management, situational awareness, bringing the team together, holding people accountable, and when you’re looking for a head coach those are really the job descriptions.”

The strongest votes of confidence are usually the unsolicited ones. It would be hard to interpret Roseman’s statement as anything else. Two years ago, the Eagles did Sirianni a disservice with the way they handled the fallout from their late-season collapse and one-and-done showing in the 2023 playoffs. From their decision to wait nine days to announce that Sirianni would return amid rampant speculation that his job was in jeopardy, to their external hunt for an offensive coordinator, the Eagles left the impression that the coach was being Office Spaced out of power. Not only was it an indignity, it led to an offseason full of distractions that easily could have metastasized during the Eagles’ 2-2 start to the 2024 season.

This time, Roseman made it a point to eliminate any doubt. As he should have. The Eagles are about to embark on an offensive coordinator search that could see them bring in any of a number of big name former head coaches who have their own schemes and, potentially, their own assistant coaches. During Thursday’s press conference, there were several questions about the level of autonomy the new offensive coordinator will have, including the one that prompted Roseman’s unsolicited amicus brief. If the Eagles felt like a clarification of the record was in order, now was the time to provide it.

» READ MORE: Will A.J. Brown and Lane Johnson be back? Those are key questions facing the Eagles and Howie Roseman.

It speaks volumes that Roseman took advantage of the opportunity, and that he did it forcefully. A coach needs all the political capital he can get, especially a coach who suffers from perception problems. Sirianni has brought some of those on himself with his occasional emotional regulation issues on the sidelines. But it was always a silly and unrealistic narrative to suggest he was the NFL coaching equivalent of a guy who stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night. It was also willfully ignorant in a league where John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin had been two of the most successful coaches of the modern era.

As for the exact nature of the Eagles coaching search, and their offseason personnel strategy, you’ll have to rely on your own deductive reasoning. There was little in the way of concrete answers from either Roseman or Sirianni regarding their vision for the Eagles offense.

— Roseman said the Eagles won’t necessarily be targeting an OC who they think could remain with the team for an extended period of time.

“It’s a great compliment when guys get head coaching jobs from here because it means that we’re having success,” he said.

— Sirianni was noncommittal when asked about his role — and his current assistants’ roles — in the future offense. Which is common sense. If the Eagles hire Mike McDaniel, in whom they reportedly have some interest, they will clearly hire him to be Mike McDaniel the same way they hired Vic Fangio to be Vic Fangio. That said, in most cases, game-planning and play-calling is a far more collaborative process than a lot of people seem to think. The Eagles have always valued that collaborative spirit, especially in the wake of the Chip Kelly era.

“I know that I want to be the head football coach and I think that’s what the team needs,” Sirianni said. “Everything that I’m doing isn’t because it’s what I want to do, it’s because it’s what’s best for the football team and I think it’s best for the football team when I’m the head football coach.“

— Speaking of reading between the lines, I’ll leave it to you, dear reader, to evaluate Roseman’s comments when asked about the possibility of trading star wideout A.J. Brown.

“It’s hard to find great players in the NFL and A.J.’s a great player,” Roseman said. “That’s what we’re going out and looking for, when we go out in free agency and the draft, is trying to find great players who love football and he’s that guy. So that would be my answer.”

I would qualify that wording as “careful” rather than explicit and definitive. But I do think it points to a general truth about the situation. It wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense for the Eagles to trade Brown unless they can somehow do it in a way where they replace him with an equal or better talent. The cost savings and draft pick return almost certainly won’t be enough to legitimize the move on that front. But if they can reap some sort of asset in a deal and also use the $7 million or so they’d clear with a post-June 1 move to add some other pass-catcher, it could make sense. But those are my words, not Roseman’s.