Tags

Welcome to June, and the unofficial end of NFL scout and executive hiring (and firing) season. Though it started a little slow, it was an exciting month of May, filled with intrigue and projection, much like the month of April.

As of the latest move we reported today, we’ve tracked 112 moves (promotions, reassignments, hirings and firings). About a hundred is the over/under for most springs.

Now that the National Football Scouting and BLESTO meetings are over, we can take a fuller look at the teams that reconfigured their scouting departments and make a few observations (most of them prompted by recent GM hires). Hopefully you joined Orlando Alzugaray and myself on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Radio last weekend as we ran everything down. But if you didn’t, here’s a quick overview.

Team Changes GM movement
Browns Hired Alonzo Highsmith & Eliot Wolf (Packers); used Scot McCloughan (Redskins) as consultant; hired Steve Malin (Saints); hired 4 from Chiefs Hired John Dorsey as GM Dec. 2017
Chiefs Hired Michael Bradway (Eagles); lost 4 to Browns; hired new scouting coordinator (Saints); promoted 6 Fired Dorsey as GM, hired Brett Veach summer of ’17
Eagles Hired Shawn Heinlen (Bills), Patrick Stewart (Patriots); lost Bradway (Chiefs) and Tom Hayden (Texans); promoted 5 Restored Howie Roseman as GM Jan. 2016
Jets Hired Jon Carr (Texans); lost Matt Bazirgan (Texans); hired 1 from Packers, 1 from Bills, promoted 1; fired 2 Hired Mike Maccagnan as GM Jan ’15
Packers Hired Patrick Moore (Browns); promoted 9 Hired Brian Gutekunst as GM Jan. ’18
Texans Hired Matt Bazirgan as DPP (Jets); hired James Liipfert as college director (Patriots); also hired scouts from Cardinals, Saints, Vikings; promoted 2; fired 4 Hired Brian Gaine as GM Jan. ’18
Titans Promoted Ryan Cowden to VP personnel; promoted 4 Hired Jon Robinson as GM Jan. ’16

A few things to add:

  • The biggest story-that-turned-out-to-be-a-non-story was in Oakland, where we heard since before the draft that the arrival of Jon Gruden meant a lot of rancor and unrest in the front office. A month later, however, everyone is still in place. It’s possible this is because all scouts are still under contract and owner Mark Davis didn’t want to write a bunch of checks. We’ll continue to monitor things there.
  • Also, as ESPN’s Jordan Raanan pointed out on Twitter Thursday, the Giants have a few assignment shifts and moves they’ll be announcing soon, maybe today. New GM Dave Gettleman mostly went status quo in Year 1 back in New York, though several scouts were given one-year, prove-it deals, and may not be back to see the 2020 draft.
  • There are still a few teams making lesser moves, mainly replacing combine scouts and scouting assistants. They include the Chargers and 49ers, though there may be a couple more (here’s one of the Chargers moves, announced today). However, we don’t anticipate any true headline-grabbing hires.

To check out the most comprehensive listing of who went where on the Internet, including moves (sometimes) still to be reported, check out the 2018 ITL Scouting Changes Grid. To check out the movement every year since 2014, the first year we started tracking things comprehensively, click here.

Also, for a look at how quickly some teams turned things around after a GM change or a major front office hire, take a look at today’s report on ITL. We’ll also analyze this year’s moves further and put them in the context of recent turnover in today’s Friday Wrap. It will be out this evening, and you can register for it here.