One would think that behind the scenes, the NFL draft would be boring. That notion, however, was quickly sidelined when a viral conversation between the Commanders GM Adam Peters, and Eagles’ GM Howie Roseman broke the internet. After going back and forth three times, Howie Roseman gave into Adam Peters’ demands, but the Commanders’ GM still called him a “pain in the a*s.”

Rich Eisen later wanted to confirm if the incident really happened, and he found out in the latest episode of his titular show where he also invited Albert Breer of SI to drop a few gems. Breer did confirm Eisen’s suspicion and, if anything, the conversation between Eisen and Breer points out that Roseman is one heck of a manager.

“I mean I can tell you for a fact that Commanders actually went to Howie himself and asked him permission to put that in,” said Breer and added, “So the Commanders actually had to do some back work and saying like ‘Hey we need to make sure this other team is okay with this, right.’ Because the Eagles didn’t sign up to be a part of the series.”

“So that kind of created some stuff where they went to, I know Adam Peters went to Howie Roseman and went to Bob Lang who’s the PR guy in Philadelphia who Peters had been with in San Francisco to make sure it was okay to put that in.” added Breer.

But Rich Eisen wanted to confirm his inhibitions about the arrangement and asked, “So this now confirming, Howie Roseman confirming that he’s in fact a pain the a*s, is what you’re saying?” Albert Breer didn’t waste any time and confirmed what Rich Eisen thought was true all along. For what it seems like, Howie Roseman is doing his job to get the best possible outcome for his team. If being called a “pain in the a*s” is what it takes to do his job, so be it.

It would only make sense to look back into the past and see what actually transpired between the two divisional rivals. Facilitating a trade between two divisional rivals is a cardinal sin in the league. But Roseman and Peters still took that risk.

How Adam Peters-Howie Roseman’s negotiation turned out to be a win-win for both teams

The Eagles were initially lowballing the Commanders during the draft and that didn’t sit right with Adam Peters. Peters was responsible for creating a solid roster for the San Francisco 49ers in the past, so the expectations were the same with Commanders. Roseman initially offered Peters 2 picks, but the Commanders GM wanted more.

The offer was the Eagles trading 50 and 53 overall pick to the Commanders in exchange for pick no. 40, 78, and 152. But Peters didn’t want it to be an odd trade, so he advised Roseman to send pick no. 161 and they would call it a deal. But that’s not what negotiation 101 teaches these managers. It’s a perseverance game and luckily, it worked out for Peters, somewhat.

Roseman called back and offered him pick no. 210 instead of 161, but Peters didn’t budge and turned the offer down. Knowing that Peters had a strict goal in his mind, Roseman decided to give a callback and agree to the deal.

When everything was said and done, Peters told Roseman, “You’re a pain in the ass.” In the end, the Commanders ended up picking CB Mike Sainstrill (pick 40), TE Ben Sinnott out of Kansas (pick 50), and Safety Dominique Hampton (pick 161). The Eagles, however, had a very important addition to their roster when they found Cooper DeJean, the CB out of Iowa as the 40 overall pick.

In hindsight, all that back and forth was in good humor. Despite the team’s being divisional rivals, this negotiation just proves that from this draft onwards, people might look into their divisional rivals with a different, yet opportunistic set of eyes.