More Front Office Talk

Posted: June 9th, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 1 Comment »

The Jets got their man when they hired Joe Douglas.

That is a major commitment to Douglas.

The Texans are looking around for a GM. Unlike the Jets, they are not going all out in pursuit of a top candidate. Coach Bill O’Brien is the big dog in Houston so the team is looking for someone to work with him be his Yes Man.

Houston has talked to Martin Mayhew (former GM of the Lions) and Ray Farmer (former GM of the Browns). Both men are experienced executives, but also have mixed track records. Mayhew is the better of the two (despite Farmer being a former Eagles LB who played a big part in a shutout win over the Giants in 1996).

Every organization is run differently.

Douglas was part of a big front office in Philly. Howie Roseman was the ultimate decision-maker, but Jeffrey Lurie encourages things to be done in a collaborative way. Douglas also saw that style when he was in Baltimore. He will run the show in New York, but I’m sure he will attempt to build a high quality scouting staff and will embrace a collaborative style.

This is a great point by Sheil.

Douglas wasn’t a once-in-a-lifetime evaluator who discovered prospects everyone else missed. Heck, he loved Donnel Pumphrey. But Douglas was good at building consensus as the scouting staff put the draft board together. He also worked with Roseman on pro decisions and internal evaluations. You can be sure they didn’t agree on everything, but they found middle ground and helped build a great roster together.

The Eagles still have plenty of good scouts and talent evaluators.

Tom Donahoe – Senior Football Advisor – Longtime scout and executive for the Steelers. Was also GM for Buffalo. Old school football scout.

Anthony Patch – Senior Director of College Scouting – Has been with the Eagles since 2002. Patch has been an area scout and mid-level executive.

Brandon Brown – Director of Pro Scouting – Was the Asst Director of Pro Scouting and got promoted when Dwayne Joseph left for the Raiders. Has worked for the Colts and Eagles, starting in 2015.

Ian Cunningham – Director of College Scouting – Joined the Eagles in 2017 to work with Joe Douglas. Previously was in Baltimore for nine years.

TJ McCreight – Player Personnel Executive – Has worked as a scout and personnel executive since 1997. Experience with multiple teams.

Alan Wolking – Assistant Director of College Scouting – Has worked for the Eagles since 2011.

Shawn Heinlen – Southwest Area Scout – Longtime scout for the Bills came over to the Eagles last May.

Max Gruder – Assistant Director of Pro Scouting – Joined the team this offseason. Came over after working for the Dolphins.

Ryan Myers – West Coast Area Scout – Outstanding area scout. Previously covered the East Coast for the Eagles.

Jim Ward – Northeast Area Scout – Has been a part of the Eagles scouting staff since 2016.

Matt Holland – Senior Pro Scout – Has more than a decade of experience, working as both an assistant coach and scout.

Patrick Stewart – National Scout – Worked for the Patriots from 2007-2017. Joined the Eagles a year ago.

Casey Weidl – Player Personnel Coordinator – Brother of Andy Weidl. Has worked in football operations / scouting since 2015.

Chris Nolan – Player Personnel Scout – Just got promoted from Scouting Assistant.

When you hear Daniel Jeremiah praise the Eagles scouting staff, this is why. That is a deep, talented group of evaluators.

I didn’t list Andy Weidl and Andrew Berry, who would be the top two executives. I wanted to focus on others, who are lesser known, but very important parts of the roster building that has gone on in recent years.

Douglas helped the Eagles build a great scouting staff. Now they have to figure out who should run that staff.

I am interested to see if the Eagles promote Weidl to Douglas’ role. Replacing Douglas won’t be easy, in part because he’s got an odd job description. I remember that Slash talked about how hard it was for Guns n’ Roses to replace Izzy Stradlin. They struggled to explain exactly what Izzy did and that made it tough on the guys trying to replace him. Izzy was much more than just a rhythm guitar player.

Weidl should know better than anyone what Douglas was doing for the past two years. Of course, Weidl could follow his friend to the Jets.

Stay tuned on that.

As much as the Eagles need a strong talent evaluator, they need a leader, communicator and people person.

*****

There are all kinds of rumors going on with Douglas. He has talked to Todd McShay of ESPN about joining him. They were on the University of Richmond football team together. That would be an interesting hire.

Phil Savage’s name has come up. He lost his AAF job and worked with Douglas back in Baltimore so he would definitely make some sense.

Weidl and Ian Cunningham have both been mentioned. They are friends with Douglas, but have to decide if leaving the Eagles makes sense.

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One Comment on “More Front Office Talk”

  1. 1 www.mayileju.com said at 9:01 PM on June 10th, 2019:

    来了一次又一次，总是情不自已！