Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio has a bit of a reputation for having an innate ability to get under the skin of professional athletes that he reports on. Apparently, NFL general managers are not an exception to the rule.
Things Get Chippy Between Howie Roseman and Mike Florio
Florio interviewed Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman on his show. Roseman has had an incredibly successful run as the general manager of the Eagles the last couple of seasons. It would be safe to assume the conversation would be focused on their recent trip to the Super Bowl or quarterback Jalen Hurts’ contract extension.
Florio was not as interested in either of those topics. Instead, he elected to zero in on the illegal tampering that allegedly occurred involving former Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon and the Arizona Cardinals.
Gannon is now the head coach of Arizona, and a resolution between the Eagles and the Cardinals was publicly resolved minutes before the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft kicked off.
During the interview, Florio immediately went after Roseman for more details, asking him how he found out about the tampering situation. Roseman responded in the most conservative way possible: “The more we look in the past, the less focused we are on the future.”
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Florio was not pleased with the response and pressed further, which prompted Roseman to reply with almost the exact same response.
Florio then accused Roseman of hiding details in this incident, and Roseman “deflected,” according to Florio, when Roseman called Florio a top-five conspiracy theorist around the NFL. The accusation clearly flustered Florio, and Roseman did his best to push back against the strong-willed reporter.
Florio Defends Interview Tactics
Florio later took to Twitter to deny that there were any issues between him and the general manager.
“Howie wasn’t mad at me, I wasn’t mad at Howie. We both have a job to do. There’s a story about the Gannon tampering that they’re keeping under wraps. I’m curious as to what really happened. Fans should be, too.”
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Whether or not there is a fractured relationship between Florio and Roseman, one cannot argue that Florio has a history of upsetting some high-profile figures in the NFL. Florio has a long-standing feud with several members of the Raiders camp, including current Saints quarterback Derek Carr, who blocked Florio years ago on Twitter.
At the end of the day, it’s Florio’s job to elicit information from his interviewees; it just happened that on this particular day, Roseman was ready for him.