8:09pm: The Chargers also put in a request to interview another Bears exec. Co-director of player personnel Jeff King will meet with the Bolts, ESPN.com’s Lindsey Thiry tweets.
The former Panthers and Cardinals tight end has been with the Bears since 2015, being with the team throughout the Ryan Pace regime. Poles moved King, 40, to his current post in 2022. This will be King’s first GM interview; he met with the Panthers about their assistant GM job in 2021.
5:58pm: Add Ian Cunningham to this list. The Bears’ assistant GM also received an interview request from the Chargers, Rapoport tweets. Cunningham joined Brown as an Eagles staffer who became an assistant GM in 2022, becoming Ryan Poles‘ right-hand man. Set to to have an important say in Chicago’s decision on Justin Fields, Cunningham also turned down the Arizona GM job last year.
2:43pm: The Chargers will make a belated push out of the starting blocks on their general manager search. Seeking to fill the role Tom Telesco held for 11 years, the AFC West team has sent out five GM interview requests thus far.
Former Dolphins GM-turned-Saints assistant GM Jeff Ireland is among them, per NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport. Also included here is Cowboys VP of player personnel Will McClay, according to the Dallas Morning News’ Calvin Watkins. 49ers assistant GM Adam Peters, Giants assistant GM Brandon Brown and Bills VP of player personnel Terrance Gray also received Bolts interview requests, according to SI.com’s Albert Breer and NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero.
This marks Ireland’s first entrance onto this year’s GM carousel. An Ireland-Sean Payton reunion has been rumored, but after rumblings of embattled Broncos GM George Paton being on the chopping block, it is looking like the Payton-Paton setup will remain in place. This would hinder an Ireland Denver move. Ireland worked with Payton for seven years in New Orleans, helping revive the franchise after a mid-2010s lull.
Given considerable credit for a Saints impact 2017 draft class that included Marshon Lattimore, Alvin Kamara, Ryan Ramczyk and Trey Hendrickson, Ireland has been the Saints’ college scouting director since his arrival in 2015. Ireland, 53, is still better known for his Dolphins years. He spent six years as Miami’s GM, but after the team (during Matt Cassel‘s QB1 year in New England) won the 2008 AFC East title, no more playoff appearances commenced. Still, Ireland brings more experience to the table than most on this year’s GM market. He has also interviewed for a few jobs — the Panthers, Lions and Bears — from 2021-22.
Although Jerry and Stephen Jones still make the final calls, McClay has been indispensable for the Cowboys over the past several years. Dallas has continually hit on first-round picks, with fourth-rounder Dak Prescott quickly becoming the franchise’s centerpiece player. McClay, 57, has been with the Cowboys since 2003 and has not been a regular during GM hiring periods. His most recent connection to a GM job came when he turned down a Texans interview request in 2018; it will be interesting to see if McClay agrees to the Chargers meeting.
Peters has received requests from the Commanders and Raiders. It would not be surprising to see every team request a meeting with the 49ers’ assistant GM, given the success the team has achieved during the Kyle Shanahan–John Lynch years. Gray is on the Raiders’ list as well, with Brown — following his second year as the Giants’ assistant GM — on the Panthers’ radar.
It’s a shame that some teams cannot request a new owner interview…
That would help
Only way I’d take a CA job there’d be a stipulation the ‘team’ pays ALL of my State Income Taxes.
Chargers will always be a black hole of karma and chronic incompetence until the day the Spanos trust fund fools sell and stumble back to Stockton.
Peters and McClay seem like very interesting hires, whose names have been dotting the headlines for the last few years. They’ve stuck with their respective teams, and seemingly have only enhanced their stocks. Perhaps there’s something to be said for not bolting for the first job offered if a candidate is with a successful franchise? I suppose we’ll see. For now, they seem like more proven candidates who are also still relatively new, and don’t have documented questions results-wise from prior stops, which would normally accompany an experienced candidate (such as Ireland). I’m intrigued to see where the two will end up, and how they’ll do, if their current teams don’t manage to retain them once again.
One interview for each day in the week and if that doesn’t produce the desired results then the Chargers will add 13 more candidates and purchase a dart board to resolve the matter.
As a Charger ‘fan’ I hope for the best yet expect mediocrity.
Is Harbaugh the answer? Maybe Vrabel? Both having been HC.
OR
Does the team sport the idea that an OC can make the transition to HC? Recent defensive hires haven’t brought the promise of playoff addiction, yet they still flirt that avenue.
GM is another ‘dating game’ adventure, experienced or an ‘associate of’?
They’re checking quite the contingent BUT do these concern the interviewer or those being interviewed.
Whomever takes this job has to be fluent in cap space gymnastics, how to continuously field a winner thru injuries and mounting salaries..
I really like Adam Peters for this gig..
The three most injured teams always seem to be the 49ers,Ravens and Chargers yet two of those teams are consistent winners .. Peters has been apart of (I’m assuming) a few things the Chargers need most
High level contract negotiations/contract restructuring.. drafting useable players in the later rounds .. a few others