Joe Kim

NFL Staff Updates: Titans, Patriots, Hightower

August 2nd, 2024 at 10:02pm CST by Ely Allen

The Titans announced a number of new hires and promotions within their front office staff recently. While we had already reported on a number of these, there were a few updates that we were not yet aware of.

Dale Thompson has been promoted to assistant director, college scouting. He’s in his 14th year with the team after breaking into the league doing pro scouting for the Seahawks. Mical Johnson earns a promotion to become the pro scouting coordinator. She served most recently as a scouting assistant in Tennessee. Mike Boni will move up to senior national scout in his eighth year with the Titans. He brings 19 years of NFL experience to the position.

Two more scouts earned promotions as former pro scout Brandon Taylor becomes a college scout for the southeast region and Kalan Reed becomes a personnel scout. Once made Mr. Irrelevant by the Titans in 2016, Reed is now making his name in the scouting world.

Here are a few other teams with recent staff updates:

The Patriots also made some recent additions and promotions, per their team website. A.J. Richardson and Landon Simpson join the team as new scouting assistants. Both come from the collegiate ranks with Richardson joining from Mizzou and Simpson coming from Miami (FL). Richardson was a personnel scouting assistant for the Tigers after spending a couple years as a receiver trying to make rosters in the NFL. Simpson was the coordinator of player personnel/head coach recruiting analyst for the Hurricanes. They can thank Marquis Dickerson for the open positions after he vacated one of them due to a promotion to pro scout. Dickerson takes the job of Sam Fiorini, who was promoted to assistant director of pro personnel. Patrick Stewart earned a bigger promotion, still. He’ll now serve as director of pro personnel after returning to the team two years ago as a senior personnel advisor. The veteran Patriots scout spent part of the interim time with the Panthers, where he worked his way as high as vice president of player personnel.
We had announced that former wide receivers coach Troy Brown was sticking around, as is pass rushing consultant Joe Kim. While neither were included as part of the new staff announcement, they have reportedly been confirmed to be working with the team in skill-development roles, per ESPN’s Mike Reiss. Lastly, we had previously noted that former linebacker Dont’a Hightower would be working with outside linebackers, but the most recent information indicates that he’ll work with inside ‘backers, instead.

East Rumors: Redskins, Jets, Collins, Pats

May 14th, 2018 at 9:56pm CST by Sam Robinson

One of the candidates to work as the Redskins‘ starting left guard may not be able to factor into that competition. Arie Kouandjio is believed to have suffered a torn quadriceps muscle, JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington reports. Kouandjio’s season is now in jeopardy, per Finlay, who notes this injury could sideline him for the rest of 2018. Despite not making the Redskins’ 53-man roster out of camp, Kouandjio started the final six games for Washington at guard after the Redskins signed him off the Ravens’ practice squad. The 2015 Washington fourth-round pick made two starts in 2016 as well. Washington re-signed Shawn Lauvao, and Finlay notes it’s uncertain if Kouandjio suffered this significant malady before or after that agreement occurred. The 30-year-old Lauvao’s been the Redskins’ primary left guard since the 2014 season. The team also drafted Louisville tackle Geron Christian and still has Ty Nsekhe in the backup mix.

Here’s the latest from the East divisions:

Cowboys third-year starter Maliek Collins underwent foot surgery on Monday, Todd Archer of ESPN.com reports. He broke a bone in his foot last week. Dallas’ goal is for its first-unit defensive tackle to be ready by the end of training camp and hopefully be in line to play in Week 1, per Archer. Collins underwent a similar foot operation in January and underwent a foot procedure in the 2016 offseason as well.
Lorenzo Mauldin missed all of the 2017 season because of a back injury, and Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News notes there’s an increasing feeling at Jets headquarters the outside linebacker will be a training camp cut. The 2015 third-round pick has made four starts since entering the league. That said, the Jets are thin at edge rusher post-draft. They re-signed David Bass this offseason and added other possible depth pieces in Kevin Pierre-Louis and Brandon Copeland.
Sean McVay‘s departure appears to have helped influence the Redskins to protect another young decision-maker. The franchise recently jettisoned longtime scout Scott Campbell, and Rich Tandler of NBC Sports Washington notes that 34-year-old exec Kyle Smith ran this year’s draft after Campbell held that responsibility in 2017. The Redskins are envisioning Smith playing a big role for the franchise in the coming years, per Tandler. Smith is the son of former Chargers GM A.J. Smith.
The Patriots will bring in martial arts expert Joe Kim to help as a pass-rushing consultant, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe reports. Kim’s consulted with 10 teams in the past, most recently with the 2016 Browns, but his first NFL job was with Bill Belichick when he was the original Browns’ head coach in 1992.

AFC Notes: Brady, Browns, Howard, Bolts

March 3rd, 2016 at 9:26pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here’s the latest coming out of the AFC as the legal tampering period looms.

Observing how the 2nd Circuit Court’s three-judge panel aimed its scrutiny in today’s Deflategate appeal in Manhattan, Tom Brady should be bracing for a setback in his efforts to put this 14-month-old matter behind him, Michael McCann of SI.com writes. McCann expects a 2-1 decision going in favor of the NFL. That doesn’t mean Brady will automatically miss the Patriots‘ first four games in 2016, with further appeals possible if the NFLPA loses this time, but it would bring this issue back to the forefront after a dormant several months that occurred following judge Richard Berman’s ruling in favor of Brady. The decision could take months, per McCann.
Hue Jackson wants the Browns to come away with two or three starters during free agency, Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports (on Twitter). The first-year Cleveland coach acknowledges, however, attracting the top targets will be difficult. Of course, the Browns could lose two top UFAs if Alex Mack and Mitchell Schwartz exit. Jackson “would love” to have Mack back and told media, including Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal (Twitter link), “You can put [a center’s value] right up there with the QB when you have a guy like that.”
Jackson will have the final say when it comes to which quarterback the Browns select at No. 2, if they opt to go quarterback with their top pick, according to Jeff Schudel of the Lorain Morning Journal. Sashi Brown‘s executive VP title won’t supersede Jackson’s offensive experience when it comes to making this choice, Schudel notes.
The Browns hired Joe Kim as an assistant, ESPN.com’s Field Yates tweets. His title is assistant strength and skill development coach. Kim served in the same capacity for the Bears in 2014 and Washington last season. This will be the third stint for Kim in Cleveland. A Northeast Ohio native whose served as a consultant for several NFL teams since 2001, Kim is a former national taekwando champion who’s gone on to consult defenders on pass-rush techniques.
After the Chiefs applied the franchise tag to Eric Berry, they still have six current or former Kansas City starters entering the free agent market, including improving defensive end Jaye Howard. In a radio appearance with Fox Sports’ Alex Marvez (Twitter link), Howard said his status in Kansas City was “up in the air.” The Chiefs also feature Derrick Johnson, Tamba Hali and Sean Smith as players who started for their No. 7-ranked defense last season whose contracts have expired. Howard, however, is younger than the other Chiefs’ key UFA defenders in entering his age-27 season. He was Pro Football Focus’ No. 24 interior defender, a grouping that includes 3-4 defensive ends, along with all defensive tackles.
The Chargers have until March 24 to qualify a stadium measure for the crucial November ballot which will contain an item regarding the use of public funds to finance a downtown stadium. The team’s expected to release a stadium financing plan at that time, Eric Williams of ESPN.com reports.