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Roseman back in charge of personnel department

Howie Roseman is back in charge of the Eagles' personnel department after control of the roster was ceded to Chip Kelly for one season.

Howie Roseman (left) and Chip Kelly.
Howie Roseman (left) and Chip Kelly.Read moreClem Murray / Staff Photographer

Howie Roseman is back in charge of the Eagles' personnel department after control of the roster was ceded to Chip Kelly for one season.

Roseman will maintain the title of executive vice president of football operations, but he will now be involved in personnel decisions. Tom Donahoe was named senior director of player personnel. He will handle the day-to-day operations of the department while working with Roseman on all roster decisions. The Eagles will not hire a general manager.

"Howie will be responsible for making sure our player personnel department is as good as it gets in the NFL and be accountable for that, and that's pretty much the way it would go," team owner Jeffrey Lurie said. "Our new head coach, executive vice president of football operations, and a player personnel head, they are all partners to collaborate, and that's the structure."

Roseman and Donahoe were not available for comment Wednesday.

Roseman's responsibilities were an important revelation in Lurie's news conference about Kelly's dismissal. Roseman, 40, had been the general manager from 2010 to 2014 after a 10-year ascension in the team's front office.

He lost personnel responsibilities last season, when a front-office shakeup gave Kelly final say on all football decisions. The Eagles retained Roseman and rewarded him with a promotion and a raise, and he maintained the trust of Lurie, who reinstalled Roseman's roster responsibilities.

"He will have a say in personnel as a collaborator," Lurie said.

Donahoe, 68, was the Steelers' director of football operations from 1991 to 1999. He was the general manager and team president of the Buffalo Bills from 2001 to 2005. He started as a scout with the Steelers, and previously was a scout for the Blesto scouting combine after a 16-year stint as a high school football and coach in Western Pennsylvania.

Despite success with the Steelers, Donahoe resigned in 2000 after a power struggle with former Steelers coach Bill Cowher. The Steelers went to the postseason six times and won one Super Bowl during Donahoe's tenure overseeing their football operations.

Donahoe experienced less success in Buffalo. The Bills went 31-49 without a playoff appearance and only one winning season during his five years. He hired Gregg Williams and Mike Mularkey as his head coaches.

Donahoe will be an adviser in the Eagles' coaching search, but Lurie, Roseman, and president Don Smolenski will oversee the process.

"Tom will be consulted, for sure," Lurie said. "When I say coaching search, it just means who's leading it. There is a slew of valuable people who have already been contacted and who will be contacted that are a key part of the search, and Tom is one of them."

Lurie, Roseman, and Smolenski led the search in 2013 that produced Kelly. Lurie was unconcerned, noting how the hire was hailed at the time. He has confidence the same trio should be in charge of this hunt, which commenced Tuesday night.

"I am very confident that this search will be done very, very professionally, as the last one was," Lurie said. "We uncovered several excellent candidates. I guess Chip was probably No. 1 on a lot of teams' lists last time and we were no exception, for those that wanted to make that bold choice."

Once the head coach is hired, there will be more clarity about collaboration on roster decisions. Any head coach is going to need to be comfortable with the Roseman-Donahoe structure in place.

The Eagles had a similar vision when Kelly was hired before Lurie changed course last offseason. Lurie made clear that the plan is to have more of a balance of power between the coach and the personnel department, and that will be how the Eagles enter 2016.

"I think the best approach is a real collaborative approach," Lurie said. "In this case with Chip, I think there were some very good reasons to be bold about what he wanted to be able to accomplish and do. However, going forward, I think a much more collaborative approach between player personnel and coaching is the way to go. And that's the direction we would go."

zberman@phillynews.com

@ZBerm www.philly.com/eaglesblog