Howie Roseman Says That In Order To Get Drafted By The Eagles, Players Need To Pass The Big Dom Test First
Icon Sportswire. Getty Images.ProFootballTalk -- Roseman credited DiSandro, whose full job title is “senior advisor to the general manager/chief security officer/gameday coaching operations,” for being integral to the Eagles’ evaluation of potential draft picks. Roseman said the Eagles want to know that every player they draft has the kind of character that will fit the team’s culture, and Roseman said no one is better at determining that than DiSandro.
“We do have objective criteria that we look at to take players off our board,” Roseman said. “We start with these basic principles of, ‘We will not draft because of this.’ When we get past those guys, then we obviously have a process we go through. That starts with Dom. I don’t think there’s any doubt that he’s the best in the National Football League, and in my opinion all of sports, at what he does. His ability to not only gather information but have a feel for people. And then we just have to make judgments. In those situations, those are a little more subjective, and that’s based on all the information we get.”
Most folks think that your most important judgement comes at the gates of heaven as God goes through your life to determine whether you get in or not. Turns out that God is a paisan, his name is Big Dom, and that judgement comes at the gates of the NovaCare Complex in South Philly. There he is hanging out in his jumpsuit, a Kangol hat, a pocket full of gabagool to snack on, going through file after file on draft picks to decide who gets to put on that midnight green uniform one day.
There are so many nerds in professional sports these days. All these dorks who break down the analytical numbers on a player. They come into the draft room with spreadsheets and bar graphs. I love to think about all these nerds who make a case to draft a player, and then Big Dom comes barging into the room to shut them down after spending a week in the kid's hometown digging up all the dirt he could find on him. He was talking to guys this kid hasn't even seen in a decade trying to gather as much information as possible. He's tracked down long lost relatives. He spoke to middle school teachers, and the guy who ran the papi store on the corner where he grew up.
You can't gather that information with a calculator. That's not going to show up on your spreadsheet. People forget that football was always about people way before it was ever about numbers. Big Dom is a people person. He's got a feel for people. It's hilarious to think that Howie Roseman is in the war room making sure to ask Big Dom what type of vibe he gets from every player before they ultimately make the call to draft him. But that's led to 2 Lombardi Trophies in Philadelphia over the past 8 years, so something is clearly working.
Sidenote: I know everyone is getting Big Dom fatigue. But you can't sit there right now and tell me a movie wouldn't kick ass about Big Dom tracking down a potential draft pick, learning everything he needs to know about the kid but ultimately the kid teaches him more about himself than anything. Big Dom, a big man with an even bigger heart. Coming to theaters next spring.