Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman. Photo from www.igglesblog.com

HOWIE ROSEMAN: As you guys know, we’ve made the decision to release Josh Huff. The last 48 hours we’ve spent a lot of time discussing this as an organization going through our process and gathering information.
 
Q. What changed from yesterday to today? Because yesterday, Eagles Head Coach Doug Pederson said he didn’t anticipate any discipline coming.
HOWIE ROSEMAN: For us, we just want to go through our process, gathering all the information and then sit down as an organization and make a decision that we think is the right decision for the Philadelphia Eagles.
 
Q. So why was this the right decision?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: For us, we just felt, based on the circumstances and the facts involved, that it was the right thing to do for our football team.
 
Q. Who made the decision?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: We met – [Eagles Chairman & CEO] Jeffrey [Lurie], [Eagles President] Don [Smolenski], myself and Coach [Eagles head coach Doug Pederson] – and we made this decision together.
 
Q. Did the statements that Huff made yesterday have anything to do with this decision?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: This situation was about gathering all the information and trying to do what we felt was right for the Philadelphia Eagles.
 
Q. Was there information that came available between the time Doug talked to us yesterday and when you made the move?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: We spent a lot of time over the last 48 hours just making sure that we had the information and that we weren’t rushing to judgment, and that we have a process in place for these sort of things that could lead us to what we think is the right decision.
 
Q. Did Josh have the gun on the premises here before he left and was arrested?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: Josh told us that he did not.
 
Q. Did you find out that he did?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: No.
 
Q. Did you explore that further, and do you have a regulation here against that occurring with players?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: It’s a league policy about having weapons at the facility.
 
Q. There has been a number of incidents over the last several months involving off-field incidents. Why Josh Huff?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: We have to take each of these separately, examine the facts that we have and go through a process and then make a decision that’s in the best interest of this organization.
 
Q. What makes this one more severe than LB Nigel Bradham’s?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: The facts of the situation and the circumstances in this were different than Nigel.
 
Q. Did the league exert any pressure in any way for you to do something?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: No.
 
Q. You mentioned the four of you that sat down and had the discussion. Was it a back-and-forth discussion, and were all of you on board with the decision?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: Everyone was on board in the decision. That’s why we made the decision. And over the last 48 hours, when we go through our process, we talked to a lot of people. There’s no science to this. We have a process and we try to do what’s right.
 
Q. Are you operating with more information than what’s publicly available on the police report?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: I think we’re comfortable with the information that we had that led us to the decision.
 
Q. When Head Coach Doug Pederson came in here yesterday, had you made the decision that you were going to keep Huff or did you still not know at the time? Did you know at that time, that after gathering more information, you eventually would release him?  
HOWIE ROSEMAN: When you look at the timeline from Tuesday until now, we were continuing to gather information. We didn’t want to just rely on media reports. We wanted to be thoughtful in how we were making this decision. So all day yesterday, we were really spending a lot of time [on it] and through last night and into this morning when we made the final decision.
 
Q. Did you take into consideration how that would make Doug look? He came up here yesterday and said how he was going to embrace the player and now all of a sudden, one day later, you are releasing him.
HOWIE ROSEMAN: We all care about Josh Huff. We care about the players on our team. That’s the business that we are in. We spend a lot of time with them and these decisions are hard, but we have got to do what is right for the Philadelphia Eagles.
 
Q. Obviously you invested a third-round pick in Huff and he’s really found a niche as a kick returner. How disappointing is it that here we are in the middle of the season and you have to do this? 
HOWIE ROSEMAN: Yeah I think that’s the right word. It’s disappointing that we have to stand up here and do this. But we are trying to build something and we are trying to build something that lasts. Some of that means that we are going to have to make some hard decisions and all we can do is do what we think is right for the Philadelphia Eagles.
 
Q. Did you give any consideration to the possibility that by changing your course, after Doug had laid out what seemed to be the franchise policy, you would run the risk of making your head coach seem pretty weak and pretty ineffectual?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: Our No. 1 priority is to do what is right for this team and Coach is 100 percent on board with this and doing that. At the same time, while we are going through the process, we also have to do things to protect the outcome, and we don’t want to get to the outcome without going through that process.
 
Q. How disappointed are you that Huff put himself in this situation? According to him, it sounds like it was an honest mistake. With you being in charge of this football team, how upset are you?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: Again, I go back to the word ‘disappointed’ as we are standing here right now and discussing this as we are playing a big game this week. There is no doubt that he was coming along as a player and that he helped this team, but we have to do what is in the best interest of this organization, this building and the 63 guys. We have a responsibility to a lot of people here and we don’t take that lightly.
 
Q. What is the precedent that you set with this decision?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: I think that’s for you guys to infer and discuss.
 
Q. How do you think this decision is going to play in the locker room? Huff obviously has a lot of friends in there. Did you talk to them yet? Did Doug talk to them yet?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: In the last 48 hours, we spent a lot of time with a lot of people in this building discussing this and going over the scenarios. We’ve got a lot of good people in this building and they want to do what is right as we are trying to move forward here and build something.
 
Q. How was the news delivered to Huff and who delivered it?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: Coach and I met with Josh together this morning and we just told him in person. Obviously, it was a tough conversation for all of us.
 
Q. How did he handle it? What was his reaction like?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: I think it’s important we keep the specifics of the conversation [private]. It’s a hard thing to do for all of us. It’s the hardest part of this business.
 
Q. Did prior incidents with other players influence your thinking at all?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: We try to take every incident individually, go through a process and make a decision that is right for the Philadelphia Eagles.
 
Q. How is this incident different from LB Nigel Bradham’s?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: Very different set of circumstances. Obviously we have to go through all of those when we do that to figure out what is the right decision for us.
 
Q. With the possibility of Huff facing jail time, did that factor into this decision at all?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: Again, we have a process we go through. We look at all the information we have and then we try to make the best decision for the Philadelphia Eagles.
 
Q. What is the one charge that really bothered the organization?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: I think when we went through the whole process, we thought this was the best decision for the Philadelphia Eagles.
 
Q. That doesn’t answer the question specifically.
HOWIE ROSEMAN: I don’t know that there’s a reason to get into specifics other than we thought this was the best decision for the Philadelphia Eagles.
 
Q. In the offseason, the team signed some players that had prior character issues and off-the-field incidents. Do you think this is a result of that?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: I would just take this specific instance and how we felt here. Again, when we went through the last 48 hours and gathered all the facts and all the information, we thought this was the right decision.
 
Q. Moving forward, are you concerned that this might be an issue with the players on the team?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: No. Obviously, I can’t predict the future, but we feel like we have a good group and we’re headed in the right direction.
 
Q. Has a spot on the roster been filled yet?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: No.
 
Q. Do you think it will be filled by Sunday?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: Yes.
 
Q. What is the team policy on guns?
HOWIE ROSEMAN: There is a league policy on guns. Again, I’d like to keep it to this specific example with Josh. We wish him well as he moves forward here.