Front Office Update

I wrote yesterday about Jeff Lurie’s new model for the front office, with Howie Roseman, Tom Donahoe and the new coach all sharing power. Now it turns out there could be a change to that.

Following up on what @mortreport said re: Eagles, league source says the team will be looking to hire a head of personnel at some point.

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) December 31, 2015

#Eagles have Tom Donahoe running personnel dept. for now. Source says they'll hire a personnel chief to run day-to-day operations soon.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 31, 2015

This news isn’t just coming from outsiders.

A league source has told Comcast SportsNet’s Derrick Gunn that Donahoe is basically in an interim role and Lurie will be hiring someone to run the day-to-day operations of the personnel department for the long-term.

As much as I like Donahoe because he’s an old school scout, he is a bit long in the tooth for a key personnel job. There is a real grind with that, especially from January to May. A guy in his upper 60’s isn’t ideal for that job.

The Eagles are not going to hire a GM.

They apparently are going to hire someone to be the head of the personnel department. Donahoe is in that role for now. The scouts who are out in the field need someone to report to. They can’t wait for a new hire. Donahoe has been part of the Eagles organization since 2012 so he knows the scouts and has a relationship with Roseman. That makes him a good temp hire.

We don’t have any names linked to the opening so far. Scott Fitterer from Seattle is the guy I wanted last year, but he ended up getting a promotion there and staying put. I doubt he would leave, but I’d love to see the Eagles at least call him and feel out the situation.

I’ll put together a list of names that might interest the Eagles.

It is possible the Eagles will hire the coach first and then add the personnel executive. Based on on the schemes and style of play the coach wants, there may be a personnel executive who is an ideal fit. Or the Eagles could already have a set of people targeted that they think would fit in well with the new power structure.

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One possible target is Kevin Kelly, currently the Chargers Director of College Scouting. He doesn’t have an ties to the Eagles, but has an extensive football background and he’s worked for multiple teams. That organization is in even more of a state of flux than the Eagles so he might be willing to move on.

If you need some good reading for today, check out this great story of Kelly’s friendship with Walter Payton. Sounds like Payton was a terrific guy. Really cool story.

I don’t know much about Kelly so I can’t endorse him now, but stumbled across that story and thought it was too good not to share.

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I’ve started doing my research on coaching candidates.

Those of you who like Hue Jackson will probably enjoy this video.

That has a very Philly feel to it.

I’m fascinated by Adam Gase. His background is very interesting, but the big selling point is the fact that Tim Tebow, Peyton Manning and Jay Cutler all had their best seasons playing for him.

Chip Kelly loved his scheme and his ideas. Gase can make things work with just about any player or scheme you want. That is key in today’s NFL.

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Are you following the situation in Indy? Things are really bad there, with all kinds of drama between coach Chuck Pagano and GM Ryan Grigson. Normally I wouldn’t care all that because the Colts aren’t an NFC team or a franchise I follow closely.

I do wonder if the Eagles could have interest in Pagano as a coaching candidate or Grigson for the personnel gig.

The Eagles may have interest in hiring someone with NFL coaching experience. Pagano is 29-18 in the last 3 years (2012 is when he had cancer and missed 12 games). He has had postseason success. Just as importantly, Pagano is seen as a players coach. He has strong relationships with his guys.

Pagano worked under John Harbaugh in Baltimore, coaching the DBs from 2008-2010 and then running the defense in 2011 (3rd in yards and points in NFL). His background with DBs could be of special interest to the Eagles, who have had a leaky secondary for a while now.

Grigson worked for the Eagles before becoming the GM in Indy. Grigson has had mixed results in Indy. It would be easy to look at his moves there and say “No thank you” to him. Keep in mind that just because a guy didn’t do well running the show doesn’t mean he can’t be a valuable part of a personnel department. Evaluating talent and making moves are two different things.

The other factor to keep in mind for both guys is owner Jim Irsay. He can put a lot of pressure on his guys to make very aggressive moves. We don’t know if he was the one pushing for the Trent Richardson trade or for the signing of veterans this offseason and things like that.

Based on the rumors coming out of Indy, Grigson is meddlesome and a micromanager. Pagano and his people could easily be the ones leaking those rumors so we can’t take them as fact. That is one crazy situation no matter how you slice it.

The Eagles might be interested in one of the guys, but they sure won’t be interested in both. It’s also possible the Eagles won’t want anything to do with either guy, as there is enough drama in Philly already.

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Closing in on Chris Polian?

Chip Kelly’s search for a personnel director might be progressing.

Chris Polian recently had 2d interview w/ Eagles for "GM" opening, NFL source said. Emerging as serious candidate, as @caplannfl noted.

— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) January 25, 2015

Polian is not my preferred choice for the job, but there is a case to be made for him. First, he certainly has the experience. He began working in the NFL in 1994. Obviously Polian got into the league because of his dad, but he stayed for 20 years. Chris was fired by Indy after the 2011 season. He was then hired by the Falcons for the 2012 season. Longtime friend Dave Caldwell got the GM job in Jacksonville in 2013 and brought Polian along to be his Pro Personnel Director.

Chris worked with some really smart, really successful people. Guys like Dom Anile, Tom Telesco, Dave Caldwell, Tom Gamble and Thomas Dimitroff are all excellent personnel evaluators with strong track records.

Chris had chances to leave the Colts while working for his dad, but didn’t.

Dom Anile calls Chris Polian “the best research-and-development guy I’ve ever seen.” In recent years, his duties have grown to include contract negotiations, and he has helped modernize the team’s personnel department, aiding the transition to computers in a way that not only streamlined the college scouting process but helped merge it with the pro player-personnel system into one seamless whole.

When the Miami Dolphins came calling two years ago with an opportunity in their front office, owner Jim Irsay stepped up to convince the younger Polian to stay in Indianapolis. After talking with his wife about the possible new job, Chris Polian didn’t need much convincing. “I was talking with her on the phone and she said, ‘If your name was Joe Blow, and you were somewhere else, and had a chance to work with Bill Polian and Tony Dungy in Indianapolis, what would you do?’ I said, ‘We’d put the house up for sale and we’d get our ass up there.’ That settled it. One, she was right. Two, I guess other people’s interest in me confirmed that I had some competency. I’ve kind of made my peace with the fact that I’ve only worked for my father.”

Tom Gamble worked for the Colts from 1998-2004, alongside Chris. Chip Kelly thinks highly of Gamble. You wonder if he reached out to him to ask about Polian. There are some rumors that the reason Gamble left the Colts is that Chris got promoted over him and some others. I have no idea if that is true or just idle speculation.

I would not want Chris Polian to come to the Eagles as “The Man”. He had that role for 3 years in Indy and things did not go well. In his defense, the Colts were cutting back on scouting costs and he didn’t have the kind of resources the team used when they were built into a juggernaut.

Chip Kelly is looking for someone to be his right-hand man. He needs someone that can gather, organize and prepare information for him. I do think Polian can handle this task. He did a lot of that in Jacksonvill over the past 2 years. This video interview offers some good insight into his role.

Polian failed in Indy. You can bet that was a huge piece of humble pie for him and he’s going to be a very different guy if given another position of power. That could also help in dealing with Kelly and stepping into an awkward front office situation.

My preference is still Scott Fitterer from Seattle, but it just doesn’t seem like that is going to happen.

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Rick Gosselin put the Eagles as the #1 STs unit in the NFL. I wrote about that for PE.com. Beyond the good play, I wanted to look at how the group was built. It took a couple of offseasons, but Kelly fixed that unit. Let’s hope he can do the same with the defense.

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