HEADLINES

Max Gruder

Titans Add A.J. Highsmith, Keenan Agnew To Front Office; Team Interviewed Josh Scobey

May 14th, 2024 at 12:57pm CST by Sam Robinson

May regularly brings change in teams’ scouting departments, as staffs are often kept intact ahead of the draft for continuity purposes. The Titans are one of the teams making changes shortly after the draft.

Second-year Titans GM Ran Carthon is hiring A.J. Highsmith as the team’s scouting director, according to InsidetheLeague.com’s Neil Stratton. This will mark a reunion for the two second-generation NFLers. Carthon and Highsmith worked together with the 49ers during the late 2010s.

The son of NFL personnel vet Alonzo Highsmith, A.J. spent the past five years with the Bills and finished that tenure as a national scout. A defensive back at Miami from 2009-13, A.J. Highsmith worked his way up from an area scouting post in Buffalo. Alonzo also reentered the NFL this offseason, moving back from a role with the Hurricanes to work under Eliot Wolf in the reshaped New England front office. A.J. Highsmith will hold both pro and college scouting duties in Tennessee, Stratton adds.

Staying on the subject of veteran execs’ sons, Keenan Agnew is also joining Carthon in Tennessee. The son of Lions assistant GM Ray Agnew, Keenan is coming aboard as a scouting assistant, Stratton adds. Keenan will become the second of Ray Agnew’s sons to land in an NFL front office; Ray Agnew III is part of Joe Douglas‘ Jets scouting staff.

The Titans have also spent some time with other candidates to join their scouting department. Josh Scobey, who separated from the Cardinals after 12 years recently, interviewed for a Titans position, according to veteran Titans reporter Paul Kuharsky. Scobey, a former NFL running back, finished his Arizona tenure as the team’s college scouting director. Scobey’s separation from the Cardinals comes in ex-Titans exec Monti Ossenfort‘s second offseason as GM.

Also part of the recent Titans interviews: Eagles pro scouting director Max Gruder, per Kuharsky. The Eagles promoted Gruder during the 2022 offseason. The Titans had most recently employed Jon Salge as their college scouting director and Brian Gardner as their pro scouting director. While it is unclear where that duo will stand going forward, Carthon’s second offseason in charge is bringing some changes beyond the coaching staff.

Eagles Announce Front Office Changes; Rod Streater, Ben Ijalana Join Scouting Staff

June 3rd, 2022 at 3:53pm CST by Sam Robinson

After seeing one of the more offseason significant brain drains in recent memory take place, the Eagles announced how they will move forward without the front office talent they lost.

Philadelphia saw four executives become assistant general managers elsewhere — Ian Cunningham (Bears), Brandon Brown (Giants), Catherine Raiche (Browns) and Andy Weidl (Steelers) — and have moved forward without former GM Tom Donahoe and director of scouting operations Casey Weidl. Had the Steelers not hired Andy Weidl as their assistant GM, the Eagles would have aimed to retain him — despite his brother’s firing — according to The Athletic’s Zach Berman (subscription required). But the team announced Friday its revamped front office.

Jon Ferrari and Alec Halaby are indeed Howie Roseman‘s assistant GMs. The Eagles have not used that title in recent years, but offering it certainly aids in retaining key staffers. The team hired longtime Steelers pro scouting director Brandon Hunt to accompany the in-house risers as a top Roseman lieutenant. Joining Andy Weidl, Omar Khan and others as a finalist for the Pittsburgh GM job, Hunt is now Philadelphia’s director of scouting. The Eagles were interested in adding Hunt back in 2016, and the veteran Steelers staffer will now play a key role in the NFC East franchise’s reconstructed front office.

Connor Barwin, who joined the Eagles during the 2020 offseason, will be the team’s player development director. Fellow recent retirees are among Philly’s new hires. Former Raiders wide receiver Rod Streater will join the Eagles as their northeast area scout. Streater, who played in the NFL from 2012-18, went to college in Philadelphia (Temple). Streater, 34, spent time as a Browns scout, working under former Eagles exec Andrew Berry, since retiring. The Eagles also hired ex-Jets and Colts tackle Ben Ijalana, 32, as a scouting assistant. Ijalana, who also went to college in Philly (Villanova), played from 2011-19.

Fellow recent hires Matt Russell and Jordan Dizon will serve as a senior personnel advisor and a national scout, respectively. The Eagles also hired Jeremy Gray as their assistant director of pro personnel. Gray previously worked at the University of Arizona. He is the son of longtime NFL assistant Jerry Gray. Let go from Washington’s staff last year, Jeff Scott also received a promotion with the Eagles; he is now their director of football operations. Scott was with Washington for nine years.

The Eagles also promoted Alan Wolking from college scouting director to director of player personnel and gave former Jaguars GM Dave Caldwell a more official title. Caldwell, who joined Roseman’s staff last year, will now serve as a senior personnel director and an advisor to the GM. Previously, Caldwell simply carried a “personnel executive” title. Max Gruder will rise from assistant pro scouting director to the top of that department, while Ryan Myers will move from an area-scout gig to the assistant scouting director post. An eight-year Eagles staffer, Phil Bhaya will climb from the area-scout level to the team’s director of draft management.