The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Eagles’ Roseman denies reports of shouting match with Guice
The Eagles didn’t select a running back during the first two days of the NFL draft despite an obvious need at the position.
They traded out of the first round and into the second round, where they drafted tight end Dallas Goedert, who fills another need. When first-round prospect Derrius Guice was drafted in the second round, No. 59 overall by the Redskins late Friday, reports surfaced that Eagles executive Howie Roseman had been in an argument with Guice during the LSU product’s visit to the NovaCare Complex. Roseman denied it.
“There was no altercation,” Roseman said Saturday. “There was no altercation here, in this building, that any of us are aware of. I don’t know where that report came from but I can speak for everyone in here and nothing like that happened here in Philadelphia.”
Asked if an altercation or something similar ensued outside the building, Roseman dug in his heels.
“There was no altercation,” Roseman said. “When you hear the word altercation it sounds like ... yelling and screaming. I mean, I don’t know that I’ve ever been in a room where a player has yelled at anyone.”
Said Eagles head coach Doug Pederson, “I didn’t hear of anything.”
Brian Westbrook, the former Eagles running back, claimed there was an argument on local radio, per reports. On Saturday NFL Network insider Ian Rappoport said Guice’s visit to Philly deteriorated into a “shouting match” with a club executive, and that a source told him it was “the worst visit” the Eagles ever had in their pre-draft history. Later NFL Network analysts said Eagles running back Duce Staley had the run-in with Guice.
“Sometimes you can’t believe everything you read or hear,” Roseman said. “That would be my message of the day.”
Redskins head coach Jay Gruden said he knew nothing of the blowup and that the team had done its homework on the player.
Guice reportedly had other difficult visits. At the scouting combine he told reporters he was asked by various teams if he was gay and whether his mother was a prostitute.