The Eagles will have several new faces in their personnel department before the 2022 season begins. Another notable name is out of the picture post-draft.
Ten-year Philadelphia executive Tom Donahoe will part ways with the team, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane, who notes the sides decided not to work out another contract. A post-draft meeting led to this conclusion, and Donahoe will follow several execs out the door in Philly this offseason.
A Pittsburgh native, Donahoe led the Steelers front office for most of the 1990s, working alongside Bill Cowher to help the team become a perennial contender again. After his 2000 ouster, Donahoe took over as the Bills’ general manager in 2001. That tenure did not go as well, and the Bills moved on after the 2005 season. Donahoe, however, established a longtime partnership with the Eagles, one that began in 2012. It is unclear if the 75-year-old decision-maker plans to retire.
Although the Donahoe-Howie Roseman fist bump-failure moment went viral during Day 2 of the 2021 draft, the veteran exec stayed on for another year and had been with the Eagles through four head-coaching regimes. Donahoe oversaw the team’s scouting department for a stretch in 2016, when Roseman had regained power after Chip Kelly‘s short but memorable stretch at the helm.
Donahoe’s departure is the latest of several exits. Scouting director Casey Weidl, brother of Eagles player personnel VP Andy Weidl, is out. The Eagles also moved on from southwest area scout Shawn Heinlen, according to InsidetheBirds.com’s Geoff Mosher and Adam Caplan (on Twitter), and exec T.J. McCreight, per McLane. These moves follow VP of football operations Catherine Raiche‘s exit for Cleveland, director of player personnel Brandon Brown‘s move to the Giants and senior scout Ian Cunningham‘s Bears hire. Both Brown and Cunningham are now in assistant GM roles, with Raiche’s Browns job believed to be on that level as well. Roseman will have a few hires to make in the coming weeks.
Casey Weidl’s firing is going to make for some rough going between his brother Andy and Howie Roseman if Andy doesn’t get the Pittsburgh GM job.
As Sam Robinson says at the end of the article, Howie got his work cut out for him filling all of the vacant positions.
One day Howie will look around for a convenient fall guy and realize the only one left is the guy in the mirror.
That Milton Williams pick looked pretty good last year.
“Solid” is the way I’d describe the Eagle’s picks over the last decade. Not sure if this guy was important in that regard, but if he was they are making a mistake.