See if this sounds familiar. It should.
The Eagles want “guys who are wired the right way.” They’re “big on culture.” They believe it’s “a big man’s game.” After all, “there’s a reason why the heavyweights don’t fight the lightweights.”
All of those things were recently uttered at the NovaCare Complex. Chip Kelly didn’t say them. Not this time. This time it was the team’s new vice president of player personnel, Ed Marynowitz, who hit all the familiar talking points when he met with the media for the first time on Thursday morning.
Marynowitz is clearly Kelly’s guy. Aside from the different voices, if you closed your eyes and just listened to the words, Marynowitz sounded a lot like Kelly. He even mentioned that he’s “philosophically opposed” to the Eagles “mortgaging the future” to move up in the draft. You know how much Kelly likes the word “philosophically,” and by now you’re well aware of the head coach’s position on mortgaging the future.
Despite adopting the company lines, Marynowitz insisted he’s not a yes man. And maybe he’s not. Maybe he speaks truth to the only power that matters in that organization. In those cases, someone wondered, how do the disagreements resolve themselves?
“There really haven’t been that many of them,” Marynowitz allowed. “Not because we’re all agreeing with [Kelly], but because we’re all speaking the same language.”
They speak the same language. And, as Marynowitz put it, he and the rest of the player personnel department are there to “support the head coach and his vision.” You know who didn’t exactly speak the same language as Kelly? And you know who didn’t always support the coach’s vision? Marynowitz’s predecessor. There’s a reason why Howie Roseman was stripped of his player personnel duties. There’s a reason they boxed up his stuff and moved his office — which was once next to Kelly’s — way across the building to the other side of the NovaCare Complex. Kelly and Roseman didn’t mesh. Marynowitz and Kelly very much do. That was almost certainly the biggest selling point when the Eagles decided to hire Marynowitz: He’s not Roseman.
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Marynowitz was a college athlete. He didn’t have a big board as a 12-year-old. He didn’t skip school to study the draft, though the player personnel side was the most appealing aspect of the business to him. Marynowitz was always too busy playing football in high school and then in college. It wasn’t until after he was done playing that he started nerding out on the game. He’s worked for some big names. Bill Parcells. Andy Reid. Nick Saban. Now Kelly.
In between dropping lines about how it’s a league dominated by height/weight/speed — again, should sound familiar — Marynowitz had some telling things to say about the current organizational structure, which was simultaneously a referendum on the previous organizational structure.
“Part of what we have now,” Marynowitz said, “which is so unique, it’s a fully integrated approach between the coaching staff and the personnel department where everyone speaks their mind.”
That’s what they have now — full integration between departments. Don’t wonder too hard about what they had before.
“I think there’s got to be a mutual trust and respect for the people in both of those positions,” Marynowitz continued about the player personnel chief and the head coach/boss man working together.
“The roles,” Marynowitz added, “are clearly defined.”
Now. Not so much then.
Without flat out mentioning Roseman or outlining exactly what went on that led to the demotion by promotion, Marynowitz did an awfully good job of confirming what we already knew: The way the Eagles used to handle things in the front office was messy and the approach was untenable. Now they talk about mutual respect and clearly defined roles and everyone happily marches in step to the beat of the only drummer in the band.
Some more evidence about the newly developed symbiosis: When asked about the draft and how thin the talent pool might be, Marynowitz said he believes there are only 8 to 10 difference-makers in the crop. But he thinks there’s depth and value to be had at offensive line, defensive back and wide receiver. You might remember that the Eagles used this offseason to jettison players at each of those positions for various reasons. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but it’s certainly convenient.
It will be interesting to see how next week’s draft goes now that the new structure is in place. Marynowitz said it still hasn’t been determined who will be on the phone with other teams and exactly how the war room will operate. But those are frankly minor details. It doesn’t much matter who opens his mouth when everyone has the same thing to say.