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PHILADELPHIA — The boy wonder of NFL front offices was born in Brooklyn and grew up an “obsessed” Jets fan.
Howie Roseman still bleeds green, but it’s of a decidedly different shade — Philadelphia Eagles green, thanks to his role as the Birds’ general manager and his status as the league’s youngest person in that job at the tender age of 36.
“I’m all about the Eagles now, but I was obsessed with everything about the Jets for much of my life,” Roseman said during a break in the Eagles’ training camp this week. “I was a Jets season-ticket holder for years, and a lot of my roots in sports come from watching their teams in the 1980s.”
The Canarsie native was equally
obsessed with scouting and grading football players, telling family and friends before Roseman had even turned 10 years old that his only goal in life was to be an NFL GM.
Mission accomplished, and at an astoundingly early age.
Major League Baseball might be known for precocious GMs (see: Theo Epstein), but a 34-year-old who wasn’t related to the team’s owner assuming that role was practically unheard of in the NFL before Roseman was promoted to his current job in January 2010.
Eagles coach Andy Reid and longtime team president Joe Banner call the shots in Philadelphia, but Roseman has plenty of admirers among his peers, because he is a rarity among NFL executives — a “two-tool” executive, as skillful in talent evaluation as he is with the intricacies of the sport’s salary cap.
The question that has been asked a lot around the NFL, and especially at the Giants’ headquarters: How do the Eagles keep finding the cap room to make big-name acquisitions? In large part, it can be attributed to the savvy work of Roseman, who grew up in Marlboro, N.J., and looks like he still could pass for 26.
“He brings something to the table for us in every aspect,” Banner said this week. “His understanding of the cap is better than any cap person in the league, much less any GM, and he’s a great talent evaluator. There’s nothing we do that he isn’t integrally involved in.”
The Eagles have never won a Super Bowl, an unsightly drought that long predates Banner’s decision to hire Roseman as an intern a year after Reid’s arrival in 1999.
But Philadelphia has been highly competitive for most of Reid’s tenure, despite turning over Donovan McNabb and much of its roster in the past three seasons. The Eagles are considered a Super Bowl favorite in many corners this year after adding Pro Bowl picks Nnamdi Asomugha, Jason Babin and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie to a Michael Vick-led team that won the NFC East last season.
Banner and others say the Eagles wouldn’t be calling themselves “The Dream Team” without the boyish, diminutive Roseman — “He looks like he could be one of their ballboys,” an AFC GM said jokingly — working his mix of cap-and-personnel magic behind the scenes.
“Once you’re around he and he shows you the level of talent he has, you don’t even think about his age,” said Banner, who credits Roseman specifically with turning one-time backup tight end Jason Peters into a Pro Bowl offensive tackle.
Ironically, Roseman’s lifelong devotion to the Jets helped him end up with the Eagles. After graduating from the University of Florida, Roseman peppered the Jets with so many letters seeking internships that Gang Green GM Mike Tannenbaum, then the club’s pro personnel director, called to suggest he go to law school and try to catch on as a cap expert, because Roseman had zero background as a player or coach.
Roseman did that, quickly getting his law degree from Fordham, but again found no luck with the Jets, who had a full front office. Tannenbaum was his mentor once again, though, lobbying Banner to give Roseman an internship with the Eagles.
“You could tell early on that he was going places and had a bright future,” Tannenbaum said this week. “His passion was obvious right away. Howie’s a smart, creative guy who’s done great things.”
Tannenbaum’s momentous call was in 2000, and Roseman has been on rocket ship in the Eagles’ front office ever since. He was VP of football administration by age 31 and took over as GM when Tom Heckert departed for the Browns after the 2009 season.
Roseman still fondly recalls his fanatical admiration of Freeman McNeill, Ken O’Brien and the rest of the 1980s Jets, but it’s a different kind of love now.
“I would love nothing more than for the Jets and the Eagles to both get to the Super Bowl and have that excitement, then for [the Eagles] to win,” Roseman said with a smile. “That would be the perfect happy ending for me.”
bhubbuch@nypost.com
