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John Spytek

Buccaneers Promote Mike Greenberg, John Spytek To Assistant GMs

June 29th, 2023 at 7:12pm CST by Ben Levine

The Buccaneers made a few notable changes to their front office today. The team announced that Vice President of Football Administration Mike Greenberg and Vice President of Player Personnel John Spytek will now serve as assistant general managers.

Greenberg has spent 16 years in the NFL, the majority of them with Tampa Bay. Per the team’s release, the executive often worked alongside general manager Jason Licht when it came to salary cap management, contract negotiations, Collective Bargaining Agreement compliance, and the organization’s financial/strategic planning.

Spytek, who will be entering his eighth season with the Buccaneers, was worked alongside Licht on the NFL Draft, “key free-agent acquisitions,” and other personnel decisions. In his role as Vice President of Player Personnel, the executive oversaw the college and pro scouting departments.

The team also announced that Jackie Davidson has been named Vice President of Football Research and Shane Scannell has been named Director of Pro Scouting. Davidson was previously a senior director and will support both the front office and coaching staff “in roster and strategy decisions through research and development of analytical tools and methods.” Scannell was promoted from assistant director and will work alongside Director of Player Personnel Rob McCartney on “advance scouting.”

Latest On Steelers’ GM Search

May 24th, 2022 at 10:20am CST by Adam La Rose

The Steelers have undergone a meticulous search to find outgoing general manager Kevin Colbert‘s replacement. The list of preferred candidates has reportedly been finalized.

Pittsburgh has concluded their interviews for the position, per Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The team initially met with 16 executives representing a noteworthy cross-section of internal and external personnel. That list was then narrowed down to six candidates, each of whom received a second look.

Included among the finalists are Brandon Hunt and Omar Khan. The former has worked in Pittsburgh on two separate occasions, the most recent stint beginning in 2010; he is currently the team’s pro scouting director. Hunt has also received interest for a significant front-office role in Philadelphia. The latter, meanwhile, has been with the Steelers since 2001, working his way up to the role of vice president of football and business administration and generating interest on a number of occasions from other teams during previous GM hiring cycles.

The other second interviewees come from outside the organization: Ryan Cowden, John Spytek and Andy Weidl, who work in the player personnel departments for the Titans, Buccaneers and Eagles, respectively. The other external name to be given notable consideration is Doug Whaley, who began his front office career with the Steelers before a stint as the Bills’ GM and, most recently, a position with the re-booted XFL.

Dulac notes that it remains to be seen if the six-name list is reduced even further before a hire is made. He adds that there is still “no specific timeframe” for when the new GM will be named.

Here is the complete breakdown of the Steelers’ search:

2022 NFL General Manager Search Tracker

May 18th, 2022 at 5:03pm CST by Sam Robinson

Along with the head coaches being fired, a few NFL teams are looking for new general managers. Listed below are the GM candidates that have been linked to each of the teams with vacancies, along with their current status.

If and when other teams decide to make GM changes, they’ll be added to this list. Here is the current breakdown:

Updated 5-24-22 (9:03pm CT)

Chicago Bears

Las Vegas Raiders

Minnesota Vikings

New York Giants

Pittsburgh Steelers

Steelers To Hold Second GM Interviews With Ryan Cowden, John Spytek

May 5th, 2022 at 8:52am CST by Adam La Rose

With the draft over, longtime Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert’s tenure in that role has officially come to an end. As a result, the team’s search for his replacement is now front and center. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reports (on Twitter) that second interviews will be conducted with Ryan Cowden and John Spytek, among others.

[RELATED: Colbert Officially Steps Down]

Cowden has been with the Titans since 2016. After 16 years in Carolina, Tennessee hired him to work in the player personnel department, and he has played a key role in the team’s recent success. As a result, he has generated interest in recent GM searches, including an interview with the Giants earlier this year for their opening and his first meeting with Pittsburgh one month later.

Spytek has followed an almost identical recent career path to Cowden. He too was hired in 2016 (after spending time as a scout with the Browns and Broncos) and has served as first director, then vice president, of player personnel for the Buccaneers. Likewise, his contributions to the team’s success has caught the attention of other clubs. He interviewed with the Vikings and Raiders before doing so with the Steelers this offseason.

As Garafolo notes, the list of candidates to be interviewed a second time will grow longer than these two. For now, though, here is an updated look at Pittsburgh’s search:

  • Morocco Brown, college scouting director (Colts): Interviewed
  • Ran Carthon, director of player personnel (49ers): Interviewed
  • Ryan Cowden, vice president of player personnel (Titans): To conduct second interview
  • Ed Dodds, assistant general manager (Colts): Interviewed 2/4
  • Joe Hortiz, director of player personnel (Ravens): Interviewed
  • Brandon Hunt, pro scouting director (Steelers): Interviewed
  • Omar Khan, vice president of football and business administration (Steelers): Interviewed
  • Dan Morgan, assistant general manager (Panthers): Interviewed
  • Jerry Reese, former general manager (Giants): Interviewed
  • Louis Riddick, former director of pro personnel (Eagles): Interviewed
  • Rick Spielman, former general manager (Vikings): Interviewed
  • John Spytek, director of player personnel (Buccaneers): To conduct second interview
  • Andy Weidl, vice president of player personnel (Eagles): Interviewed
  • Doug Whaley, vice president of player personnel (XFL): Interviewed
  • John Wojciechowski, co-director of player personnel (Packers): Interviewed
  • JoJo Wooden, director of player personnel (Chargers): Interviewed by 2/4

 

Steelers Interview Dan Morgan For GM Job

February 18th, 2022 at 4:13pm CST by Sam Robinson

In place as the Panthers’ assistant general manager for less than a year, Dan Morgan is already attracting interest for GM jobs. The Steelers interviewed him for their soon-to-be vacant role recently.

The former Panthers linebacker has worked his way up the chain to the point GM interest is logical. He was the Seahawks’ director of pro personnel and spent three years (2018-20) as the Bills’ player personnel director.

Morgan, 43, is now working as Scott Fitterer‘s right-hand man in Carolina. Although Morgan played high school and college football in Florida, starring as a Miami Hurricane, he is a Pennsylvania native, having grown up in a Philadelphia suburb. The former first-round pick played seven seasons with Carolina. He spent time with the Saints in 2009 and was working as a scout the following year, transitioning quickly to the executive side.

The Steelers are looking to replace Kevin Colbert, who intends to step down from his post after the draft. The team also announced it has finished interviews with Buccaneers VP of player personnel John Spytek, Packers co-player personnel director John Wojciechowski and Colts college scouting director Morocco Brown.

Here is how the Steelers’ search looks thus far, courtesy of PFR’s GM search tracker:

  • Morocco Brown, college scouting director (Colts): Interviewed
  • Ryan Cowden, vice president of player personnel (Titans): Interviewed 2/4
  • Ed Dodds, assistant general manager (Colts): Interviewed 2/4
  • Omar Khan, vice president of football and business administration (Steelers): Mentioned as candidate
  • Dan Morgan, assistant general manager (Panthers): Interviewed
  • Louis Riddick, former director of pro personnel (Eagles): Interview scheduled
  • John Spytek, director of player personnel (Buccaneers): Interviewed
  • John Wojciechowski, co-director of player personnel (Packers): Interviewed
  • JoJo Wooden, director of player personnel (Chargers): Interviewed by 2/4

Steelers To Interview John Spytek

February 11th, 2022 at 9:17pm CST by Zachary Links

The Steelers plan to interview John Spytek for their GM vacancy, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). Spytek, the Buccaneers’ VP of player personnel, has been a popular name in this cycle, but has yet to land a GM spot.

Spytek spoke with the Raiders and Vikings before they hired former Pats exec Dave Ziegler and ex-Vikings VP of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, respectively. As a top lieutenant to Jason Licht, Spytek played an integral role in building the Buccaneers’ championship roster. All in all, he’s spent six years in Tampa. Before that, he worked as a scout for the Broncos during the Peyton Manning era and as a college scout for the Browns.

In addition to Spytek, the Steelers have been connected to:

Raiders Request GM Interview With Buccaneers’ John Spytek

January 25th, 2022 at 10:35pm CST by Sam Robinson

After interviewing with the Vikings, John Spytek received a second GM interview request during this cycle. The Raiders are interested in meeting with the Buccaneers executive, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets.

Spytek has been an integral part of the Tampa Bay front office that assembled a Super Bowl-winning roster last season. The veteran exec has been with the team for six years and serves as its VP of player personnel.

Despite one of the Vikings’ finalists (Ryan Poles) instead taking over as Bears GM, Spytek has not been mentioned as a finalist for that position. The veteran exec interviewed for that job January 17. Browns exec Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has become the de facto favorite to take over in Minnesota, but the Raiders emerge as an interesting option for Spytek.

The Jason Licht lieutenant spent time with the Broncos as a scout during their Peyton Manning heyday and was the Browns’ college scouting director in the early 2010s. Here is how the Raiders’ search to replace Mike Mayock is shaping up as of Tuesday night:

  • Trey Brown, scout (Bengals): Interviewed 1/21
  • Ed Dodds, vice president of player personnel (Colts): Interview requested
  • Dwayne Joseph, director of pro personnel (Raiders): To interview
  • Champ Kelly, assistant director of player personnel (Bears):Interviewed 1/20
  • John Spytek, vice president of player personnel (Buccaneers): Interview requested
  • Dave Ziegler, director of player personnel (Patriots): Interviewed 1/21

Vikings Request Interview With Bucs’ John Spytek

January 12th, 2022 at 10:07pm CST by Ely Allen

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, in their search to make their first general manager outside hire in over a decade, the Vikings have requested an interview with Buccaneers’ executive John Spytek (Twitter). Spytek is the current vice president of player personnel in Tampa Bay.

A Midwest-native, Spytek got his start as an operations intern for the Lions in 2004. He became a player personnel intern for the Eagles in 2005, taking only a year to earn a full-time college scouting assistant position. From Philadelphia, he moved to Cleveland to become their director of college scouting. After three seasons in the Browns’ organization, he spent about three more years in Denver before taking a position in the Buccaneers’ front office. He’s currently in his sixth season with Tampa Bay and his 18th in the NFL.

The connection to Minnesota is interesting due to Spytek’s connection to the Kubiak family from his time in Denver. Be sure to track the Vikings’ interest in Spytek and other candidates to replace Rick Spielman here.

Broncos Shake Up Front Office, John Elway To Hire GM

January 4th, 2021 at 2:24pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Major shakeup out of Denver, as John Elway is giving up personnel control of the Broncos. In a surprising move, Elway will move to President of Football Operations, and will hire a GM who is in control of the roster, the team announced Monday.

“As part of a transition I’ve thought about for a long time, I have made the decision to step up into an elevated role and hire a general manager to lead our personnel and football staff. While I’ll continue to be President of Football Operations in 2021, the GM will have final say on the draft, free agency and our roster. This person will be empowered to make all football decisions, working in partnership with Vic,” Elway said in a statement.

Under the new structure, both the new GM and Vic Fangio will report to Elway. Obviously the legendary former quarterback isn’t going anywhere, bu he is giving up a huge amount of power, and this feels like a way for the organization to bring in a new front office head without having to deal with the ordeal of firing Elway.

Elway took over in Denver in 2011, and obviously had quite a bit of success his first handful of years after luring Peyton Manning to the Broncos. That culminated in a win in Super Bowl 50, but things went downhill quickly after Manning and head coach Gary Kubiak retired.

The team has now endured four losing seasons in a row, and they have an unsettled quarterback situation with Drew Lock looking iffy his first two years in the league. Elway’s hire of Vance Joseph to replace Kubiak didn’t work out, and he’s drawn a lot of criticism for failing to stabilize things under center ever since Manning left. His one big swing in the draft, taking Paxton Lynch out of Memphis in the first-round, was an abject disaster.

There are now a whopping seven GM vacancies across the league. Elway’s top deputy has been Matt Russell, and he had an opportunity to interview for the GM job but declined and elected to retire, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.

Russell will stay on for the time being to help Elway with the GM search, Schefter says. Bears exec Champ Kelly, 49ers exec Adam Peters (who has been linked to several other openings), and Bucs exec John Spytek are all names to keep an eye on for this search, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network says (Twitter video link). Spytek previously was a national scout under Elway in Denver, Peters was with the Broncos from 2009-16, and Kelly was with the organization from 2007-14.

Bucs To Hire Broncos Exec John Spytek

February 15th, 2016 at 6:01pm CST by Zachary Links

The Bucs will hire former Broncos national scout John Spytek as their new director of player personnel, according to Rick Stroud of WDAE (on Twitter). Buccaneers Helmet (Featured)

[RELATED: PFR’s Offseason Outlook For The Tampa Bay Buccaneers]

Spytek has ten-plus years of experience in the NFL, including the last two years with Denver. Spytek was in charge of scouting the Southwest region for the Broncos in 2013 and was promoted to national scout in 2014. Prior to his time with the Broncos, Spytek spent three seasons as the Browns’ director of college scouting. In his time with Cleveland, the Browns produced PFW/PFWA All-Rookie Team selections and drafted four players who went on to make the Pro Bowl in 2013.

In other Buccaneers news, GM Jason Licht recently said that the team will be wary of spending big in free agency this spring. For his part, Buccaneers linebacker Kwon Alexander wants to see his team add some tough defensive ends, but it remains to be seen how that will be prioritized given the team’s budget.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.