Lurie expects Eagles to contend for NFC East title

BOCA RATON, Fla. - The Eagles re-signed Sam Bradford and committed more than $140 million in guaranteed money this offseason, and owner Jeffrey Lurie expects the team to be a playoff contender in Doug Pederson's first season. He said the moves were made, however, to improve the team's long-term outlook.

"We expect to compete for the division title," Lurie said Tuesday at the NFL's annual meetings. "But at the same time . . . it's maximizing short term, maximizing mid-term, maximizing long term. One of the reasons for . . . making those trades was a change in the preference of how we wanted to allocate the resources."

The person in charge of allocating those resources is Howie Roseman, the team's executive vice president of football operations. Lurie said Roseman will "without question" be held accountable for the team's offseason moves. Roseman earned Lurie's praise for the first three months after Chip Kelly's ouster.

"What Howie's been able to do is pretty outstanding in a league that values salary-cap space and draft choices," Lurie said. "To be able to make those trades, align our resources the way we preferred and move forward from there - he's had a great plan. . . . At the moment, couldn't be more pleased."

Lurie is bullish about the possibilities of the No. 8 overall draft pick. He also expects the Eagles to draft a quarterback next month. The team committed $34 million in guaranteed money to Bradford and Chase Daniel, solidifying the top quarterback spots in Lurie's eyes. The No. 3 quarterback will be a rookie to develop.

"Very, very happy to bring Sam back and Chase as well," Lurie said. "I think Doug is very confident in both of them, and I think we've got two solid quarterbacks. They will be very competitive - Sam clearly No. 1 - and it's a great situation to be in."

The Eagles have had trouble drafting safeties, which is why Lurie liked that the team signed Rodney McLeod to pair with Malcolm Jenkins. He said identifying guard Brandon Brooks as a young starter on the offensive line was important considering the team's weakness at guard.

Lurie was sorry to see linebacker DeMeco Ryans released, adding that "in my 21 years of owning the team, there's never been a classier player." He also lamented the departure of Cedric Thornton, who spent five years with the Eagles before signing with Dallas this month.

Another upcoming addition this offseason is a personnel executive to work under Roseman and run the department. Lurie said Roseman will also be accountable for the success of that hire, which was delayed until after the draft. Even though the Eagles interviewed candidates in January, Lurie insisted the plan was always to wait until May to make that decision when a larger pool of candidates became available.

It does not sound as if Roseman's role will change, nor will the Eagles designate a general manager. In fact, Lurie said that term does not describe what the Eagles expect from Roseman or others in the front office.

"In today's NFL, I don't know what the words general and manager mean," Lurie said. "So we're trying to be more specific and say football operations. Because when you're managing football operations, it's no longer about watching tape, figuring out who to draft and that kind of stuff. It's extraordinary collaborative. It's information intensive."

That information includes incorporating sports science and deciphering data from radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips the NFL introduced last season. Lurie repeatedly cited RFID as technology that will "revolutionize the sport in the long run" with "live, biometric measurement of players."

To prepare Roseman for a potential second act in charge of Eagles personnel, Lurie wanted him to spend 2015 studying other top sports organizations. Roseman met with executives from teams in the NBA, Major League Baseball, and English Premier League. Since Roseman retained his old duties, Lurie has noticed "the clear thinking, the strategic thinking, the humbleness" that resulted from the year studying other organizations.

That would seem to indicate that changing Roseman's responsibilities was always temporary. Lurie said that was not necessarily the case. He never soured on Roseman, but he wanted to try to maximize Kelly. And one year later, he does not regret the decision.

"I think it was the necessary way to go to find out of Chip was the right guy," Lurie said. "No question I have that it was the right way to dissect whether Chip was going to be the right guy going forward or not. We dissected it and decided with some of the great things he brought, he wasn't the right person going forward."

The cost, Lurie said, was not the money the Eagles dished out in contracts for players Kelly wanted. It was the time spent determining whether that was the right direction.

"The expense of the lesson was just time," Lurie said. "It was not money. We're all about wanting to win big. No amount of money will ever prevent us. We're all in. It's really about winning championships for Philadelphia. So we lost some time, we didn't lose in the classic way of expense."

zberman@phillynews.com

@ZBerm