Roob's Observations: Why Jonathan Greenard makes more sense than Jaelan Phillips

Why I’d rather have Jonathan Greenard than Jaelan Phillips, why job security allows Howie Roseman to do his job at such a high level and why the Lions drafting Blake Miller is good news for Lane Johnson. The 2026 draft is in our rear-view mirror, and that’s where a good chunk of this week’s Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Offseason Observations is focused on. What’s next? The NFL schedule release is coming up in just a couple weeks, probably May 13 or 14. And that’s always a fun day, especially for fans who enjoy trips to see the Eagles on the road. 1. I’d rather have Jonathan Greenard at $25 million per year than Jaelan Phillips at $30 million per year. Phillips is a couple years younger, but Greenard has been the more productive player. Let’s look at their careers. Phillips has never had more than 8.0 sacks in a season, and his best two seasons were his first two. He’s averaged 4.0 sacks per season, has missed a ton of games with injuries and has only played 10 games once over the last three seasons. Greenard has averaged 6 ½ sacks per season and over the last three years has more than twice as many sacks (27 ½) as Phillips (12 ½). If you want to break it down by sacks per snap, we can do that. Phillips has averaged a sack every 99 career snaps and Greenard is at one every 81. Greenard cost you two 3rd-round picks, but Phillips will bring back a 3rd-round comp pick. I thought Phillips played OK while he was here last year, but he was certainly nowhere close to a $30 million per year player. Greenard had a down year last year after back-to-back 12-sack seasons and still had more sacks in 12 games with the Vikings (3.0) than Phillips had in nine games with the Eagles (2.0). Their Pro Football Focus pass rush grades were similar – 77.6 for Greenard, 76.2 for Phillips – and surprisingly Greenard had a much higher run defense grade – 77.8 to 60.3. Greenard had 10 tackles for loss to just four for Phillips, more QB hits (12 to 7) and more hurries (12 to 9). The Eagles have the right guy. 2. It’s crazy how quickly things can change in the NFL. Mekhi Becton signed a two-year, $20 million contract with the Chargers last March after he started for the Eagles in 2024 and played at a fairly high level. He started 14 games for the Chargers, did not play well. His Pro Football Focus grade – 70.8 with the Eagles in 2024, plunged to 37.1, 2nd-worst of 67 guards who played at least 500 snaps last year. He was released on March 4, almost exactly a year after the Chargers signed him. Of that $20 million, Becton pocketed $9.65 million, according to Spotrac. Becton just turned 27 last week, he’s was the 11th pick in the 2020 draft and he’s a year away from starting for a Super Bowl championship team. And he can’t get a job. Becton remains a free agent nearly two months after the Chargers cut him. I’d guess he’ll eventually find a job somewhere, but it’ll probably be a minimum-wage deal with no guaranteed money. Humbling business. Also still unsigned is Zach Ertz, who actually had a very good 13th season last year playing for Washington, with 50 catches for 504 yards and four TDs in 13 games. Hope he gets to play again. Ertz is fifth in NFL history among tight ends with 825 catches. Whatever happens, he’s had a hell of a career. 3. One of the things that makes Howie Roseman so successful is his unlimited job seurity that allows him to play the long game and make decisions based on both the present and the future. So many GMs make decisions based only on the short term because they want instant success so they keep their job. When you don’t have to worry about keeping your job, you can make decisions that will benefit the team for years. Even going back to drafting Jalen Hurts. A GM who’s worried about getting fired isn’t going to draft a quarterback in the second round when he already has the No. 2 overall pick from four years earlier on the roster with a huge contract. Or the patience the franchise showed with Jordan Davis his first few seasons. A lot of teams move on from a 1st-round pick who isn’t living up to expectations. The Eagles developed Davis and it paid off with what should have been a Pro Bowl season last year. Or even devoting 7th-round draft picks to long-term projects like Jordan Mailata and Uar Bernard is something many GMs wouldn’t risk. They’d rather use that 7th-round pick on some kid from Boise State who might make the practice squad. The Eagles drafted Mailata in 2018 and by 2020 he was one of the best left tackles in football. Whether it’s drafting a player, stockpiling draft picks, using the comp pick formula to his advantage or just drafting a very young player who might not be a starter until Year 2 or 3, Roseman has the ability to think three-dimensionally and make sure the Eagles are just as prepared for this year as they are for three years down the road. That’s a rare ability. And it’s a big reason the Eagles keep winning. 4. What about next year’s draft? Right now, the Eagles have seven picks – one each in the first five rounds and two in the seventh round. They traded a 2027 7th-round pick to the Vikings as part of the Sam Howell trade, they traded Darian Kinnard to the Packers for a 2027 7th-round pick, They sent a 6th-round pick in 2027 to the Jets and got a 7th-round pick back as part of the Michael Carter trade with the Jets. They traded a 6th-round pick and got a 7th-round pick back in the Jaire Alexander trade with the Ravens. They traded a 7th-round pick to the Panthers for Andy Dalton. And they traded a 2027 6th-round pick (as well as a 2026 6th-round pick) to the Packers for Dontayvion Wicks. They also got a 7th-round pick in 2027 from the Cowboys in the draft-day trade that brought them the 20th pick on Thursday. Philadelphia Eagles Find the latest Philadelphia Eagles news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Philadelphia. 5. There’s a lot to like about Markel Bell. Huge dude, powerful pass blocker, physical player, played at a high level at Miami. But the third round is an unlikely place to find your right tackle of the future. Out of 49 offensive tackles who started at least 10 games last year, 38 – or 78 percent - were 1st- or 2nd-round picks and only six were 3rd-round picks. Only three were drafted after the third round, including 2018 7th-rounder Jordan Mailata. Two were undrafted. In the last 25 years, 63 offensive tackles made at least one Pro Bowl, and 50 were 1st- or 2nd-round picks. Only two were 3rd-round picks – Terron Armstead and Orlando Brown Jr. Five were undrafted, including Jason Peters. None of this is to say Bell can’t be the heir apparent to Lane Johnson. Heck, the Eagles have a stud left tackle who was drafted in the seventh round. Stan Walters was a 9th-round pick. Big V was a 5th-round pick. Jon Runyan was a 4th-rounder. It does happen. But it just doesn’t happen all that often. 6. Nobody was probably happier to see the Lions draft Blake Miller at 17 than Lane Johnson. Why? Because Miller, the offensive tackle from Clemson, is exclusively a right tackle. That pick pretty much guarantees that the Lions will move Penei Sewell from right tackle to left tackle. Sewell has been a 1st-team all-pro right tackle in 2023, 2024 and 2025, essentially blocking Johnson, who was a 2nd-team all-pro behind Sewell in 2023 and 2024 after earning 1st-team honors in 2017 and 2022. The AP all-pro voters (full disclosure: I am one) vote for tackles by position, so we have to vote for a right tackle and a left tackle, not just tackles. If Johnson comes back in 2026 and plays the way he has the last several years, he could very well reclaim that 1st-team all-pro tag from Sewell, who would now be eligible for the all-pro team as a left tackle. This stuff matters when it’s time for Hall of Fame voting and for a guy like Johnson, who could be a Hall of Fame contender five years after he retires, another one or two 1st-team all-pro selections would be enormous. 7. How crazy is it that more players were drafted out of Abuja, Nigeria, who have never played organized football than out of UCLA, Syracuse, Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, Virginia, West Virginia and Colorado combined? Can’t wait to see Uar Bernard suit up in training camp. 8. Jalen Hurts Stat of the Day: Jalen Hurts is one of only five NFL quarterbacks to start at least 80 games since 2020 all for the same team. The others are Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. Hurts’ 82 starts are most ever by an Eagles quarterback who never played for another team. Second-most are Davey O’Brien’s 19 starts in 1939 and 1940. 9. Jeff Stoutland said what we’ve all been saying since early last year when it comes to Kevin Patullo’s performance as Eagles offensive coordinator. It just carries a lot more clout when he’s saying it. Stoutland, who worked alongside Patullo for five years, including last year when Patullo was calling plays, appeared on the New Heights podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce and laid the blame for the Eagles’ poor offensive performance in 2025 squarely on Patullo. “It's execution. It's calling the right play at the right time and not running bad plays into bad defenses. It ain't that hard.” Pretty damning stuff from one of the greatest assistant coaches in franchise history. The Eagles fired Patullo on Jan. 13, and he has since taken a job as Dolphins passing game coordinator. Stoutland voluntarily left the organization three weeks later. 10. The funniest thing about the whole Steelers Makai Lemon phone call situation was hapless Steelers GM Omar Kahn claiming that the Eagles’ trade-up with the Cowboys didn’t affect the Steelers’ draft plans. So he’s saying they were planning to take Max Iheanachor all along. OK, Omar. Please explain to us why exactly you were on the phone with Lemon if you preferred Iheanachor. Why else would you call Lemon if not to tell him you were drafting him? Just own up to it. Admit that you jumped the gun and called too soon. What an embarrassment for the Steelers and their GM. And what a brilliant move by Howie.