New Look Front Office

[time2rock]

New Look Front Office

Posted: June 6th, 2022 | Author: Tommy Lawlor 

A couple of years ago sweeping front office changes would probably have been welcomed by Eagles fans. Draft picks weren’t working out as planned, the roster lacked young talent and there just weren’t enough playmakers. Things changed in the past two years, with the team drafting well and young players starting to develop. This wasn’t an ideal time for change.

But changes happened. Lots of them. Let’s focus on the personnel department.

OUT

VP of Player Personnel Andy Weidl – left to become the Assistant GM with the Steelers
Director of Player Personnel Ian Cunningham – left to become Assistant GM with the Bears
Director of Player Personnel Brandon Brown – left to become Assistant GM with the Giants
VP of Football Operations Catherine Raiche – left to become Assistant GM with the Browns
Tom Donahoe – senior football advisor
Shawn Heinlen – area scout
TJ McCreight – personnel executive

IN

Matt Russell – Senior Personnel Director/Advisor to the General Manager
Brandon Hunt – Director of Scouting
Charles Walls – Director of Player Personnel
Jeremy Gray – Assistant Director of Pro Personnel
Jordon Dizon – National Scout
Jarrod Kilburn – College/Pro Scout
Rod Streater – Northeast Area Scout
Ben Ijalana – Scouting Assistant

PROMOTED

Dave Caldwell – Senior Personnel Director/Advisor to the General Manager
Alan Wolking – Director of Player Personnel
Phil Bhaya – Director of Draft Management
Max Gruder – Director of Pro Scouting
Ameena Soliman – Director of Personnel Operations/Pro Scout
Ryan Myers – Assistant Director of College Scouting
Matt Holland – Senior College/Pro Scout

No one loss is going to devestate the personnel department. No single addition is going to be a game-changer. The Eagles had some good people that took promotions from other teams. Howie Roseman brought in a solid group to replace them.

There will be changes in the structure and how things go. Weidl was a veteran scout and had a traditional football background. Howie didn’t make a traditional promotion to replace him. In fact, he didn’t give anyone Weidl’s old title. Howie instead created a new position (assistant GM) and split that between two trusted staff members.

Jon Ferrari – Assistant General Manager
Alec Halaby – Assistant General Manager

Who?

Ferrari previously was the VP of Football Operations and Compliance. His background is mainly as an administrator. He’s been with the Eagles since 2016. Ferrari worked for the league before that.

Halaby was the VP of Football Operations and Strategy. His background is in analytics. That phrase gets thrown around a lot these days. The Eagles are trying to use data to help make decisions involving gameday strategy, player evaluations and roster building. This will be his 15th season with the team so he knows the organization and how things are done.

That also means Halaby has some friends and enemies. Some members of the Chip Kelly staff didn’t like him. Doug Pederson and some of his coaches felt the same way. We haven’t heard much from the current set of coaches. Halaby is highly regarded by Jeff Lurie and Howie Roseman. That’s how he’s stayed around this long.

Neither of these guys is supposed to take Weidl’s role. Don’t get all fired up about non-football guys now running the draft. Matt Russell and Dave Caldwell are Senior Personnel Directors. I tend to think they are stepping into the role Tom Donahoe had in recent years. That role is a mixture of scouting and advising. Will they have power over other staff members?

Alan Wolking was promoted to Director of Player Personnel. He could take on Weidl’s duties. Wolking wouldn’t have as much power, initially. In a year or two, maybe.

Last year you had multiple people reporting to Weidl. This year they will report directly to Roseman. We’ll have to wait and see how that works.

One of the keys to the recent success is that the personnel department and the coaching staff got on the same page. Defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon recently said the coaches have a specific plan for each player that is added (drafted/signed/traded for). That simply wasn’t the case with the previous coaching staff.

As long as the coaches and scouts still work well together, the new guys have a chance to continue the recent trend of good offseasons.

Bo Wulf did make one interesting note about the changes.

I don’t know if there was a specific reason Howie didn’t give out the role previously. This is an interesting development. At the least, it tells you that he thinks highly of the two guys he promoted.

*****

Some might say I buried the lead in all of this.

From Bo’s story:

Lurie, the 27-year-old son of Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, will have the title of Business and Football Operations Strategy, reflecting his involvement in both the football operations and business sides of the organization, according to a team source. The younger Lurie moved into a permanent office space in the NovaCare Complex earlier this offseason.

I’m sure some will scream about nepotism and talk about what an awful move this is. The nepotism criticism is certainly fair, but anyone judging this move now is guessing.

Michael Bidwill took over running the Cardinals from his father and the team has benefited from that move. Stephen Jones has done some good things with the Cowboys. You can give a job to relative and have it be the right move.

There are also examples where similar moves didn’t go so well. This move does have risk. Jeff Lurie is getting older and wants to be able to have someone ready to take over the team so he’s involving his son now to give him time to learn on the job and be ready for when the time comes.

It is hard for me to have a strong opinion on this because I don’t know much about Julian Lurie. If he’s smart and driven, Julian could do a good job. If he has a sense of entitlement, this will not end well.

I would be concerned if I thought he was getting a lot of power right out of the gate. I think the senior Lurie and Howie Roseman will be smart enough to bring him along slowly. But we’ll see.

Weird things can happen when family is involved.

http://igglesblitz.com/2022/06/look-front-office/

[Rob331]

Nice balanced article. I appreciate Tommy Lawler. 

The reason for the Assistant GM titles is that neither of these guys can be poached by another team unless they are made the General Manager. Since that is ulikely given the backgrounds of the two guys it's Howie's was of insuring the organizatio will have more continuity going forward. 

I still would be happier if there was a Weidl-like guy runnig the scouting orgaizaton. 

I heard o a recent podcats (inside the birds) that howie wanted to draft Ferguson but there was more support for Reagor among the rest of the organization. As a result Howie deferred. Seems to me that Howie has decided that if he's going to get the heat for the choices he's absolutely going to make them. 

[time2rock]

4 hours ago, Rob331 said:

Nice balanced article. I appreciate Tommy Lawler. 

The reason for the Assistant GM titles is that neither of these guys can be poached by another team unless they are made the General Manager. Since that is ulikely given the backgrounds of the two guys it's Howie's was of insuring the organizatio will have more continuity going forward. 

I still would be happier if there was a Weidl-like guy runnig the scouting orgaizaton. 

I heard o a recent podcats (inside the birds) that howie wanted to draft Ferguson but there was more support for Reagor among the rest of the organization. As a result Howie deferred. Seems to me that Howie has decided that if he's going to get the heat for the choices he's absolutely going to make them. 

Ferguson?

[Rob331]

33 minutes ago, time2rock said:

Ferguson?

Jefferson. 

Thaks T2R, I often need an editor

[time2rock]

26 minutes ago, Rob331 said:

Jefferson. 

Thaks T2R, I often need an editor

I don't know how much I buy that Howie wanted Jefferson but drafted Reagor because he was in the minority.  UNLESS it was Lurie that wanted Reagor (could be ... there are rumors that he is the one that told Howie to draft JJAW).  It just seems they focused on adding speed to the outside WR spot and neglecting taking everything else into consideration.  If it was Lurie on both of those perhaps that is why we are hearing the reports this year that he is giving Howie full rein over rebuilding the roster.    

https://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2022/5/22/23136763/eagles-news-jeffrey-lurie-reportedly-stepped-back-given-howie-roseman-free-rein-power-front-office