The Vikings announced a number of front office adjustments last week, finalizing their staff moving into 2023. Five employees got promotions and another ten were added to the team’s staff. Some of these changes have been noted in previous posts.
Of the five, four promotions four were administrative, analytics, or personnel positions. Formerly the manager of football information systems, Luke Burson was promoted to director of football information systems in the analytics department. Emily Badis was elevated from football administration coordinator to manager of football administration. In personnel, Alex Dale, previously a scouting associate, was promoted to pro scout, and Mitch Johnson-Martin‘s title was updated to player personnel analyst-pro scouting.
As for the new hires, seven of the announcements were new information to the analytics and personnel staffs. In analytics, Anthony Caron was hired to the role of football information systems developer. In personnel, Minnesota brought in Salli Clavelle, who has spent the past five years in the 49ers’ personnel department. She will come on as a pro scout for the Vikings. The team has brought on a new area scout in Steve Sabo, as well. Sabo is a veteran who, last year, stepped down from his role as director of pro personnel of the Falcons. Jack Murphy joins the staff as a BLESTO/college scout. Lastly, the team added three scouting associates in Michelle Mankoff, Shantell Rodgers, and N’Tare Williamson. Rodgers is getting her first official NFL opportunity after spending a week as the team’s Nunn-Wooten Scouting Fellow last August. This will be Williamson’s first NFL job, as well.
Here are a few other front office updates from around the NFC:
- The Cowboys have made two additions to their analytics staff this offseason. After adding John Park as the team’s new director of strategic football operations earlier this month, the analytics staff added Sarah Mallepalle as strategic football analyst, according to Seth Walder of ESPN.
- The Packers handed out two promotions last week, according to Neil Stratton. Previously a pro scouting intern, Daric Whipple has been elevated to scout. Another pro scouting intern, Quandon Christian, also received a promotion, earning the role of pro scout.
- Lastly, the Lions promoted former assistant director of college scouting Brian Hudspeth to director of college scouting. The veteran is entering his 23rd season in the NFL, including six in Detroit. He spent four seasons as a national scout before being promoted to his previous position last year. He takes the position in place of Dave Sears, who took the assistant general manager job in Arizona this January.
Maybe I’m too old school to appreciate “analytics’. It can’t measure desire to win or willingness to make sacrifices so that is a problem from the get go. Coaches like Halas and Lombardi seemed to do just fine without this new age science. It of course allows front office staffs to mushroom into unwieldy behemoths but “data overload” can often create more problems than it solves.
Let’s put it this way. As a Pirates fan it was hard to see Gerit Cole go from the bucs to the Astros and drop his ERA, WHIP, and average 300 strikeouts because analytics the Astros used told him to pitch up in the zone vs. The bucs pitching philosophy of pitching down and away.
Philosophy came from the old school and made him not see his full potential but the analytics made him into a top 3 pitcher.
I know nothing about that situation but I believe Hall of Fame bound head coaches or managers instinctively know how best to utilize a players skill set without the aid of “analytics”. I also believe that if a head coach or manager is terrible, no amount of computer generated data is going to make him great.
You’re very right about the last part.
Analytics can be a great tool to utilize even for great coaches.
Hopefully the Cowboys new analytics staff members can figure out Dak needs to be replaced.
Why would the Cowboys want to replace a QB who is 27-2 when he attempts fewer than 29 passes?