Power Players: Eagles Assistant GM Adam Berry

22:13And so I think that having a different lens of thinking about things from maybe a risk pricing or a risk reward perspective was just adding to what was ultimately just like a mosaic of different perspectives that goes across all football operations. And that contributed to the way that we may think about solving a particular problem.

22:34Jourdan Rodrigue:And then when you get to go into, okay, this is the time you now must spend on task evaluating, right? You know, taking all of those conversations and turning them tangible, essentially going out on the pro circuit, on the college circuit. What was scouting life like for you? What did you take from it? What did you see around you? What did you learn from it? Yeah, I think, you know, for me, it was, you know, I was, it was the playing experience was helpful in terms of just being able to transition into it. But I think the thing that really jumped out to me was just how ready everybody is just to talk football, right?

23:13And so, you know, there's this, I feel like there's this culture here where, you know, if you're going into anyone's office and they're watching film, whether it's someone's coming into mine or I'm going into someone else's, it's always the natural question is like, oh, who you're watching? And then the next thing, you know, it's even if it's something on completely different than personnel, like people just want to be able to talk about players and talk about what they see and, you know, how they're thinking about them. And I found that that is something that was not only great for this building, but like when you're going out and you're doing things with other scouts, like people just really like talking about the game.

23:49And that is one of the best ways, I think, to, you know, kind of immerse yourself because you have this wealth of information of things that you've watched or that you've research or your views, but you have all these other people who have different opinions and have different perspectives, have had different experiences with team building. And you can read their reports or talk to them about that too, right? As a way of just continuing to grow your perspective, to challenge your viewpoints. And so I think really it was the openness to talk about that and share that information was really important.

24:23I think that was a really good you know, just exposure in terms of whenever you're out doing different scouting tasks.

24:30Jourdan Rodrigue:I always think what would be most fun for me if I got fortunate enough to be in a building was would be to read everyone's scouting reports and to and to do exactly what you're talking about is just talking to them because I always feel like you can get to know people on a very intrinsic level to by talking to them about the thing that they love. And in this case, everybody has this incredible passion for the sport. Did that also in a way get you sort of fast-tracked in immersed into this building and the culture of this building was not just talking to people about this, but really digging in the weeds on the reports and writing and obviously writing your own as well.

25:08Jourdan Rodrigue:And really getting into that like talent identification and football language specific to what the Eagles building is. Yeah, no, I think that's definitely something that, and it's interesting that you talk about language and I think about the easiest way to learn a foreign language is just to be immersed in it. And so I think people have, it's the same thing with football and evaluation is just immerse yourself in all the different ways and all the different players and all the different player archetypes, college pro. When you're out at practice, talking to people about what they're seeing, that's really important.

25:43And there's no necessarily limit on the amount of time that you can spend doing that. Right. And I think it's important if you if you want to, you know, be really good at that and be someone who has a formed opinion is to make sure that you're putting yourselves in situations where it's forcing you to do that. And I think that certainly in this building with the caliber of people, when they when when people recognize that people are trying to put in the work and the effort and they're trying to grow there, there's so much willingness to to help and to participate in that process. And I think also incumbent on me where there might be areas of football operations that, you know, I have exposure to and they may have questions on.

26:25It's just like, you know, it's incumbent on me to also help with if there's questions about that, that I can help them in that way. And so, again, it's again, football is the ultimate team game. And that's not just on the field. That's, you know, all the way in the building as well, too.

26:39Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, I would feel like, you know, I'm a writer, you know, but I would like to write the scouting report, but I would be thinking about what does this tell everybody else about me and how I'm seeing it in this moment and getting those processes, you know, sort of to an expert level as you continued into the, through the building and learning about what specifics are, I guess, like North Stars for the organization and what things they maybe have on a sliding scale. that to me is such a cool almost like archaeological process of understanding this is how we speak here and we have all of this knowledge and data basically over years and because it's a very how he's been there for for so long and his staff and and people in that building have really communicated how to build that I guess I would call it like an alphabet of what exactly it is that makes an eagle an eagle.

27:36Jourdan Rodrigue:And for you, what's that deep dig like and continuing to build these little pieces of information and make an entire, I guess, case for somebody? Yeah, I think that part of it is the organization is very clear on what its priorities are when we're going through any player acquisition process. And so when you're an evaluator, and when you're analyzing a certain situation, you know what to look for, right? And now the application may be different for a specific player in any given instance, but that's also why you have meetings and that's why you're talking to other people on the staff. That's why you're sharing the way that you have different viewpoints because sometimes it takes some time to tease that out.

28:25And so it's really helpful that there's a very clear vision from leadership on the things that we want to do, the things that we want to prioritize, how we think about evaluation as well as roster building. And so when that North Star is clear, it's not all that difficult to go into the practice of following it. But you just have to make sure that you're really diligent about it. And that's why we're a very process-oriented team.

28:50Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah. I was just reading a book and Bill Parcells is saying, if you are committed to certain qualities or certain traits, do not deviate and try to stick to the process as much as possible if it's proven to be valuable and work for you. And I can imagine that can be a little hard because things come up. And again, you guys are looking everywhere for different people and just different ways to bring new ideas. And it kind of gets me. You in our conversation, Adam, but building teams of highly competitive people and building teams within teams of highly competitive people. I know you have a lot of experience managing teams like that and constructing teams like that, again, from your previous work experience, but doing it in a building like this where every week matters so much and developing communication tools with coaches and with other executives and with players and not just building that roster the way that it functions at the highest level, but also internally.

29:56Jourdan Rodrigue:What has that part of the team building process been like? And how do you guys communicate with each other, especially when maybe the bullets are flying externally? Yeah, no, I think that's a good question. You touched on it a little bit. one of the differences with football and probably just professional sport generally versus working in the private sector is just how public you know your job is like i could leave the trading floor and have a had a down day and i'm not going to hear about it you know from anyone whereas you know if you know maybe there's a there's something that uh the fan base is not happy about right like you know you're going to hear opinions from your neighbor you're going to hear opinion you know it's going to be on the news like that's just it's a different dynamic that kind of uh that permeates it.

30:40But what I would say is, you know, I think anytime that you're dealing with high functioning people, high functioning teams, it comes down to relationship, communication, and aligning incentives, right? And so we have a great model for that in, you know, the way that really Howie and Nick interact, right? So they're talking to each other multiple times a day, going into each other, in and out of each other's offices. They're in lockstep about the way that They're going to think about big decisions, little decisions, how they're communicating those decisions, those things. And so it ends up being a really good model for everybody on down in terms of how the way that we're supposed to operate with different departments and different, you know, different divisions.

31:22And I would say that in general, like when we go to relationship, right, people are not necessarily going to follow you if they don't feel like they somewhat know you and that you see them as a person. Right. And that's a really important component in any business. The other thing is when you have people who are highly performing and competitive and, you know, self-starters, right? You want to make sure that you're communicating the why of what you're doing, right? So they may not necessarily like every decision, but generally people are rational. And when they understand either the context that you can share with them or the rationale for it when you can share it with them, generally there's a better understanding of why maybe something is happening.

32:06And then also people want to be valued in the way that they feel like they're contributing to the team's success. And so when you build an environment and you build a culture where, you know, when we win on Sundays, like the team's success is our success, you know, people really do buy into what they need to do in order to make sure that we're putting the organization in the best spot possible. And again, that's really easy when you have a model for that of, of leadership in, you know, starting literally at the top, um, across multiple different departments. Um, that's something that I think is really, uh, is really special and important whenever you're trying to have to, uh, move the organization forward.

32:46Jourdan Rodrigue:More on that in a second, we're going to take a quick break and get back to it on the other side. You know, the feeling you make a pick in your fantasy draft in the entire room groans because they wanted that player, or you grab a small school rookie off waivers and you start him right before he goes off in primetime. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league. I'm JJ Zachary Eason, host of the Late Round Fantasy Football Podcast. Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. We've got data-driven analysis, historical trends, and the strategies that separate winners from the rest.

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34:44Jourdan Rodrigue:When you think about roster building, too, because what you're talking about here is obviously expansive on team building in general. in any format, again, especially with high functioning and highly competitive people, when you're thinking about roster building, what types of things do still apply over no matter what type of quote unquote roster, whether it's an executive staff or a coaching staff or an actual roster of players, what has to translate universally between everybody in the building and has to be maybe a standard of culture that is set in identifying traits to put together for all of those people on any type of quote-unquote team that you have within an organization?

35:28Yeah. I mean, I think at a very high level, whether you're building a roster of players or you're building... If Howie's building a staff, you're talking about to some degree hiring. And so talent is something that's just... Is really important. That's a foundational element of you're looking for people who have talent and you're looking for people who have specific skills, whether it's on the football field or whether it's in a coaching staff or on the front office, right? You're looking for people with specific skills that are going to help give you an advantage versus your competitors. But also with that is, you know, you're looking at the makeup of a player, a person, a staff member, you're looking up at their character, right?

36:09You're thinking about, you know, their personal character, you know, their work ethic, what type of teammate they are, all those different variables that affect not only the on-field success, but also the culture of the way that the building may operate. Because those different things, at some point in an NFL season, you're going to hit adversity, right? And it's not always necessarily how someone's talent that is really important in that moment. Maybe it might be some of their character intangibles that really help you to get through a certain situation. And so, So it's really making sure that you're spending the time to think through those things, think through how those things fit together, and how you can maximize both of those things within the organization based off of the resources that you have.

36:53Jourdan Rodrigue:Is there anywhere you look for additional inspiration, whether it's outside the building or inside the building, things that you can use tools to motivate the people around you, obviously very self-motivated as it stands. So it would have to be very specific, right? It would have to resonate. Any sort of messaging or cultural building that you do has to be well thought out. I'm curious where you look for things like that. I think for me, it's just you look at people who are leading in everywhere. It could be something that you're seeing that Nick will bring things in our team meeting that maybe another coach said from a different sport or an Olympic athlete.

37:31It can be people who are in government. It could be people who are running a nonprofit. profit. But when you talk about leadership, there's a lot of different principles that are things that carry over no matter what type of organization that you're leading. And so I think for me, it's more about being attentive to not only the examples that I have in the building that I can see in terms of the way that they're leading, but also any other outside influence where it's like, is there something that I can learn from that and take from that? Is there something that I can do from a self-improvement perspective where I can be more effective in growing my leadership skills and things like that.

38:12I think it's more about just being open-minded to all the different sources as opposed to going to a specific source. Because I do think that there are a lot of qualities that are pretty broad in general that you can use across different functions in different industries.

38:27Jourdan Rodrigue:Man, you teed me up for this, Adam. Thank you. Because when you're talking about all of this, the thing that comes into my mind is cast a wide net. And to me, I mean, that should be the Eagles motto at this point, just in my opinion, honestly, like the Eagles, one of the things that I think is so unique about the organization. And, you know, I happily discuss this to anyone who will listen and not just walk away from me like I'm a crazy lady talking at them is, man, where you guys look everywhere. You look for edges in different places that are, I think maybe would be, there would be a fear there for certain others.

39:06Jourdan Rodrigue:Or I think maybe there would be too much uncertainty and there's not enough of a known quote unquote quantity on the other side or those types of things. What is that like inside the building? Like, I think that the eagle, I think the good word for it is creative. Creative in pursuit of edges. Where do you find that in the building? Where do you think the Eagles do that? Yeah, I mean, I'd probably phrase it a little bit differently. I'd say that what is... I'd actually say that this is very unique about the Eagles is that there is no what I would call fear-based decision-making in the way that...

39:40And I think that starts from ownership's willingness to try things that are different and be forward-thinking to, you know, everyone knows Howie is always willing to look for an opportunity to improve the team. He's always looking for an opportunity to be better in every different space. Like he's being able to go and work for somebody who you know is going to swing the bat is incredibly invigorating because there's just so much open-mindedness to ideas and to ways where, again, it's not thinking from a place of what could go wrong. It's more about, well, what could go right, right? And trying to be the best version of the organization that we can be.

40:23And it even goes into the coaching staff in terms of how aggressively that Nick manages the game. And so I think that is something that is incredibly unique about the organization that there's a willingness to try and to be progressive and to push the envelope in every different phase. And that doesn't mean that your hit rate is going to be 100%. That doesn't mean that you're not going to, at times, make mistakes. But that's not something that ends up being an impediment to trying something new and trying to be exceptional. I mean, I don't even know where the saying came from, but it stuck with me a few years ago where if you're trying to do what everybody else is doing, then you're probably going to have mediocre results, right?

41:09And so it's like, OK, how can we do something that's different? And I think that that is something that you certainly feel from leadership within this organization.

41:17Jourdan Rodrigue:It takes a commitment to, in my opinion, between the coaching staff and also the front office and the player as well. And identifying what about that player makes you know that they're going to commit to, in this case, maybe a development process. I think of like a Jordan Mailata, for example, where it feels like in hindsight, we all should have seen this coming. But nobody, not many people actually did, right, in terms of the quality of player that he turned into and a captain class type of guy on your roster. So with this, maybe not this specific example necessarily, but just in general, when you are identifying a player and then committing to that player, even if it's a little bit maybe outside the box, how do you build a sustainable profile?

42:04Jourdan Rodrigue:How do you say, okay, this is the short term, this is the medium, this is the long term, and communicate with coaches accordingly? Yeah, I think part of it is just the framework in which we think about talent identification and talent development in general. So that's something that I think is established organizationally just as a pillar and as a principle. And so there's an element of understanding what you think a player is going to be and the amount of time and resources it's going to take for a player to get there. And a lot of that requires not only communication, but just buy-in across multiple departments within an organization.

42:54And that's something that, you know, we've been very much committed to. And, you know, as you said, Jordan's a great example where, you know, it took time for him to get to, you know, to where he is now. But it was certainly worth the investment. It was certainly worth the energy. And, you know, we had identified somebody who we felt like had not only the physical skills, but the character to become the best version of what we thought he could be. And he's done that. So I think that just thinking about that lens and making sure that the communication is open about what the expectations are helps to make sure that, look, by the time you're getting to the point where you're bringing a player into the building, it's already been really well vetted about what are the things that he's going to need in order to become successful in order for us to maximize him.

43:40Jourdan Rodrigue:Does that take agility too? Because I would imagine the parameters or even like the sliding scale of who somebody is can change as that person changes, as their body composition changes, as their personality changes, as they experience life, as they become more of an adult, etc, etc, etc. What's the combination in which you discuss agility, expectations, and just the ability to pivot when necessary? Yeah, you always have to be willing to adapt, right? Whether that's, you know, because the game's changing, because circumstances change, it change, right? There's always going to be some level of uncertainty, right?

44:17Because you can't just plan the future. You can't dictate what the future is going to be or what it's going to hold. So that's just built into, you know, it goes to something that we talked about a little bit earlier, where if you want to, you know, make sure that you're going to get into a position where you can succeed and where you can outperform, you have to know that the road is not necessarily going to be always as intended. That has to be built into how you think about not only your analysis, but how you're going to navigate any given year or multi-year stretch. And so I think that, you know, to your point, the adaptation is an important part.

44:56You have a plan, but you're constantly reevaluating it. And you're constantly reevaluating, is this going to help get this player to where they need to be? Is this going to help get the roster where it needs to be? Is this continually the bright approach? Or is there new information that we've received that maybe requires an adjustment or a tweak or a wholesale change? And so that's just something that is just naturally built into what we do.

45:20Jourdan Rodrigue:For us on the outside, it's exciting when we can see it manifest in real time. And the years of football will ebb and flow and seasons will change and all of that. but it seems to be like a universal truth that the Eagles will change how they do things if they see upon reflection that it is worth changing and so you know you guys come in and there's you know there's schematic changes especially on the offensive side there's all these different things that happen that I think for us on the outside we see like the results of conversations like that and what I love about this show and these interviews that we get to do is is to learn a little bit more about the process behind it and I have to ask you because it's I've been dying to ask you this.

46:02Jourdan Rodrigue:Just something unique that maybe I don't know about or that we don't know about that the Eagles do that you're excited about or that there's something internally that is you think very unique to the building that I as a process dork might like to uncover here. No, I think it probably goes back to what we talked about a little bit before where it's just the fact that it is a, there's no fear in the decision making, there's no fear in the way that, you know, we're going to explore different things. Like that is something that may seem like a little thing, but I really don't think that it is. I think that the ability and the willingness to, whether you want to call it, take risks, whether you want to talk it to, you know, to swing for the for the fences, whether it's, you know, having a championship standard.

46:52That's something that I think is, you know, fundamental to the way that, you know, ownership, Howie and Nick operate. And I think that that is something that permeates throughout the entire organization. And, you know, I think that's pretty special. And that's what's what makes it one of the many reasons that makes it, you know, it's a great place to work.

47:09Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, we have to come up with a slogan for the Roseman era. No, I'm not me. Someone much more talented probably than me because it's, I think about like, you know, you just, you're letting it rip honestly. And, and it's fun. It's fun to watch just for the lay person sort of sitting on this side of the glass and in this chair, because you guys are always up to something. And that's why I'm so glad Adam, that we had you on today. I'm so grateful to share a little bit more about your journey and your current role and what you do. Thank you so much for joining me today on this episode of NFL Daily's Power Players.

47:43Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure and I really appreciate it.

47:47Jourdan Rodrigue:And we got to get you to come up with the slogan, Eric, hit the music. We are rolling Adam out in style here. Listeners, thank you so much for joining me today on another episode of NFL Daily's Power Players, of course, with the great Adam Barry, Assistant General Manager for the Eagles. Stay tuned in your feeds. We're going to have a lot coming up for you this week, including Cuts Day, a live show Sunday with Greg Rosenthal. Thanks for listening.

48:36Void episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. Listen to the late round fantasy football podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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49:21Jourdan Rodrigue:This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.