This month marks 20 years since Eagles Owner Jeffrey Lurie purchased the team, and he "still believes he has many years left in his role, although he would like to eventually pass the franchise to his college-age children," according to Zach Berman of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. Lurie last week sat for a "wide-ranging interview" with Berman and "discussed 20 years of ownership, from the hiring of coaches to the team’s most polarizing decisions to the future of the franchise." Lurie remains "obsessed with chasing the title that eludes the franchise." Eight NFL owners have been in the league longer than Lurie, "and four of them also have not won a Super Bowl." Lurie said, "I anticipated it being difficult, but I thought if you can get to four, five, six championship games, or get to the playoffs the majority of the years, as we have, then you'd have the luck that would transcend whatever strengths or weaknesses you have. Other teams have had that. We haven't. If you keep the same values and the same passion to do the best you can, that'll right itself over time." Berman noted the Eagles are "regarded around the NFL as a stable, well-run organization," as Lurie's investment in the Eagles has "increased nearly tenfold." Lurie's "chief decision-making responsibility has been hiring the front office, and specifically head coaches." He has the "reputation of being an owner who does not interfere with personnel decisions." Lurie said, "The beauty of it now, and it's so different than 1994 or 1999, is I think we can proudly say that coaches want to come work for this organization." Lurie said he is "as excited now as I've ever been." He "remarried last summer and his children are growing into adults" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 5/18).
BIRDS OF A FEATHER: THE MMQB's Peter King writes, "Almost every July, you look at the Eagles and feel they can contend to play football in January, and there aren’t many franchises you can say that about. I understand that franchises, and ownerships, are ultimately measured by the number of titles they win." King: "So the Eagles, obviously, need to win one to show that Lurie is making all the right calls and putting the right people in position with his franchise. But I like the consistency of the ship he runs" (MMQB.SI.com, 5/19).
