Sources: Roseman received long-term extension in June

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Joe Banner’s departure from the Eagles this summer meant a promotion in stature if not in title for one-time protége Howie Roseman.
 
It also meant a new contract.
 
Roseman, who became the Eagles’ general manager in 2010 after starting out as an intern with the team in 1998, received a long-term contract extension as part of the team’s June front-office shakeup, according to two high-ranking Eagles front office sources.

The Philadelphia Inquirer earlier Tuesday first reported the news.
 
This doesn’t guarantee that Roseman would survive a mass firing at the end of the season – executives are often fired with years remaining on their contracts – but it does make it far more likely that Roseman would remain as general manager even if head coach Andy Reid is fired.
 
Not just because he’s under contract through at least 2016 but because the extension he signed just a few months ago shows just how strongly owner Jeff Lurie supports Roseman.

Reid, meanwhile, is not under contract beyond the 2013 season. It’s widely believed that Reid will either get a new contract or be fired when the 2012 season ends. And the way things are going with his team, a new contract is unimaginable.

When Banner left the organization in June, his duties were essentially split between Roseman, who oversees all scouting and personnel matters, and new team president Don Smolenski, who runs the franchise’s financial operation and isn’t nearly as connected to day-to-day football operations as Banner was.
 
Banner and Roseman, once very close associates, drifted in different directions in Banner’s final months with the Eagles, with Roseman starting to earn the trust of owner Lurie and Banner finding himself more on the outside.
 
If Lurie decides to fire Reid after the season, he could determine that the team’s problems had more to do with coaching than with talent and justify bringing Roseman back with the explanation that despite poor drafts in 2010 and 2011, he stocked the roster with enough talented players through free agency, trades and the 2012 draft for the coaches to have every opportunity to win.
 
It was very revealing in August that when Lurie met with the media in his annual State-of-the-Eagles speech, he repeated his January assertion that he needed to see “significant improvement” from the Eagles in 2012 over the 8-8 2011 season for Reid to keep his job, but he gave Roseman a fairly strong vote of confidence.
 
“Howie has done an excellent job,” Lurie said on Aug. 30. “I think general managers get measured by player acquisitions, the draft, trades, how they communicate with the rest of the organization, how they communicate with the players, their strategy going forward.
 
“There is a lot to analyze, and I think Howie is doing an outstanding job.”
 
He went to call the Eagles’ 2012 draft class “extremely promising.”
 
Roseman’s first full-time job with the Eagles was as a salary cap specialist and staff counsel from 2000-02. He was promoted to director of football administration in 2003, vice president of football administration in 2006, vice president of player personnel in 2008 and became the NFL’s youngest general manager in 2010.
 
Although the 2010 and 2011 drafts were dismal ones, the 2012 draft appears to be a success, producing players like Fletcher Cox, Mychal Kendricks and Brandon Boykin.
 
The Eagles’ projected 2012 starting lineup included nine recent Pro Bowl picks, including five on defense.
 
These are all things Lurie will evaluate when the season ends. The Eagles, 3-5, have not missed the playoffs in consecutive years since 1998 and 1999, Ray Rhodes’ last season as head coach and Reid’s first.
 
If Roseman survives Reid’s firing, he would likely be in charge of the search for a new head coach. If not, Smolenski would likely be responsible for leading the search committee for a new G.M.
 
E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com