Saquon Barkley appears to be the favorite to win the league’s MVP, especially if the Eagles down the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX next Sunday.

We also know that the Birds may have the best one-two punch in the league with offensive guru Kellen Moore and defensive genius Vic Fangio.

And it’s safe to confirm that Jalen Hurts is a solid quarterback. He had a game-controlled 20-of-28 for 246 yards with a touchdown and three rushing scores — two on 1-yard “tush” pushes — and a 9-yard scamper in the NFC Championship Game against the Commanders.

But behind every great team is an architect.

Howie Roseman is the inspector, the architect, and the builder.

In this version of my “Inside the Huddle” column, I’ll take a look at Roseman’s resume, as well as some Super Bowl bites before the big game.

Plus, I do want to hear your thoughts about the big game.

Roseman’s Role ... Roseman climbed steadily up the football ladder from being a salary cap intern in 2000, to director of football administration in 2003, to general manager in 2010. Roseman and former head coach Chip Kelly turned the Birds around to a 10-6 team and a division champion in 2013 after Andy Reid’s final season at 4-12.

Roseman seemingly always had come under some level of fire for moves — or lack of some — but some of his critics were silenced after the Birds’ run in 2017 to the Super Bowl under Doug Pederson and Nick Foles. Who can forget former Dolphins running back Jay Agayo, or a kicker named Jake Elliott, who was signed in early September after Cincinnati released him?

Cap-Sized and Floating Well ... Roseman’s magic can be traced back to his days as a capologist.

His trick is in the “void year” of a contract that can pay present dividends, but likely will require some payments in the future.

For now, though, all is quite copacetic in Eagles’ land.

Barkley’s three-year, $37.5 million deal has void years in 2027 and 2030, which would leave the Eagles potentially with a $19 million cap hit if he doesn’t re-sign in two years. However, his low cap hit of $3.8 million helped open the door for the signing of Saints’ free agent linebacker Zach Baun, who has had a monster season.

Roseman also restructured the contract of corner Darius Slay, who at 34 still may be out the door after this season.

Still, Roseman worked out minimal contract years for Avonte Maddox, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and Bryce Huff.

A Win at No. 2 and 3 ... In addition to the recent development of top picks Jalen Carter, Quinyon Mitchell, Nolan Smith, Davonta Smith, Lane Johnson and Jordan Davis, Roseman hit it big with No. 2 picks Jalen Hurts (2020), A. J. Brown (2019), Dallas Goedert (2018), Landon Dickerson (2022), Tyler Steen (2022), Cam Jurgens (2021) and Cooper DeJean (2024).

The current No. 3 picks are Milton Williams (2021), Nakobe Dean (2022) and Oren Burks (2018).

Roseman is one of only 14 general managers to build rosters for three Super Bowl teams with the same franchise.

With his shrewd cap experience and drafting, you can see why. And he is on the fast track to Canton, especially if the Eagles beat the Chiefs.

Age Is A Number ... Looking at the Eagles, there are only five players 30 years or older: Elliott (30), Goedert (30), Johnson (34), Slay (34) and long snapper Rick Lovato (32).

This is yet another tribute to Roseman, who has made the most of the draft through straight picks, as well as trading packages of picks to move up and down the draft.

With his current roster and Barkley’s recognition, the Eagles are in position to be Super Bowl contenders for a number of years. Like he has with the current roster, Roseman will need to work more magic to keep it intact.

Keep It Together ... At the present time, the Eagles have 18 players who can become free agents in 2025.

Among the most notable with the status are Baun (void), Mekhi Becton (void), Josh Sweat (void), Brandon Graham (void), Williams (UFS), Maddox (UFA), Lovato (UFA), Burks (UFA) and Kenneth Gainwell (UFA).

The tallest orders appear to be Baun, Sweat, Williams and also Becton, who has been a major factor on the effectiveness of the offensive line this season.

There are plenty of reports stating Graham will retire, and it surely will happen if the Eagles win the Super Bowl.

Don’t Play These Games ... You have to either be pretty bored, or a complete diehard football fan, to watch the Pro Bowl Games that began Thursday in Orlando.

Being a sports purist, I would still like to see the AFC play the NFC despite all of the availability of games at our fingertips. That is, I want to see the teams compete at the same intensity level that they did back in the day.

All of the All-Star games have turned into a joke in their own ways, and are all very hard to watch.

In case you missed it, the opening night competition featured quarterbacks attempting to hit targets, players competing in an obstacle course, relay races, players answering trivia questions and dodge ball — yes, dodge ball.

Pitiful. I hope you don’t watch.

Who Were These Guys? ... Twenty-four years ago, the Eagles made their first Super Bowl appearance in game XV against the Raiders.

The Eagles had an historic 12-4 run, beating the Cowboys in a famed NFC Championship Game on an extremely frigid day at the Vet.

Ron Jaworski, Wilbert Montgomery, Harold Carmichael and the late Bill Bergey — along with head coach Dick Vermeil — became household names in the league.

But who were these 11-5 Raiders, led by little-known Tom Flores?

Jim Plunkett was revitalized, and finally looked like the quarterback New England anticipated, as he led the team to nine wins in the final 11 regular-season games. Plunkett replaced Dan Pastorini — remember him? — when the team sputtered after five games.

The Raiders did have their share of notable veterans but, like Plunkett, they had a number of players who gained their second wind.

Ex-Bill wide receiver Bob Chandler had a banner year complementing Cliff Branch; ex-Oiler John Matuszak and ex-49er Cedric Hartman teamed with Dave Browning to combine for 24 sacks on the defensive line; and Ted “The Stork” Hendricks was causing havoc just like he did in his Colts’ days. Kenny King gained over 700 yards during the season, and had an electric 80-yard catch and run for a touchdown.

Linebacker Rod Martin, not exactly a household name, intercepted Jaworski three times. The Raiders also had a promising rookie linebacker on their roster from Penn State named Matt Millen, and former Nittany Lion Chris Bahr was their kicker.

By the way, Oakland (still should be) won the game 27-10, as they marched out to a 14-0 lead and never looked back.

The game was broadcast by the venerable tandem of Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen. John Brodie and Len Dawson were also involved, and it made for a favorable foursome. Brodie and Dawson were both slightly underrated for their work.

Run It Back ... With Jayden Daniels, Washington is certainly in a position to be a Super Bowl contender. But it will be interesting to see how Daniels responds in Year 2, and how the league responds to him.

Like I mentioned earlier, I’m a purist and would love to see the Raiders back in Oakland, and the Commanders revert back to the Redskins. Politics should never enter into the sports world, and why are the Chiefs still the Chiefs?

Washington originally began as the Boston Braves in 1932 when George Marshall was awarded the then inactive Boston franchise. He moved the team to Fenway Park a year later and renamed them the Redskins.

The team moved to Washington in 1937, and it developed a rich history as the Redskins.

The movement to switch back has slowly gained some ground, and I hope it can pick up some speed.

White-On ... Through the years, teams that have worn white jerseys have won the Super Bowl 37 times, while teams that wore colored jerseys captured the crown 21 times.

Dallas, of course, won all five of its Super Bowls in white, and the Eagles donned their green in their victory over the Patriots.

Your Thoughts ... Who will win? Send me your thoughts and scores to tnsports@tn.com, and they will be published in next week’s column. I know there are plenty of Eagles and Chiefs fans out there.