HEADLINES

Zach Smith (scout)

NFC South Front Office Updates: Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers

May 21st, 2024 at 9:36pm CST by Ely Allen

The changes to NFL front offices continue in the recent aftermath of the NFL draft. For example, the Buccaneers announced a number of promotions in the scouting department recently, according to Greg Auman of FOX Sports.

Sean Conley is set to begin a new role as assistant pro director after previously serving as a pro scout. A former recruiting assistant for Northwestern at the collegiate level, Conley has been in Tampa Bay for the last six seasons, serving the last three as a pro scout.

Donovan Cotton joins Conley as assistant pro director. Cotton has been with the Buccaneers for 10 years, spending the last nine seasons as an area scout. He originally broke into the league as a training camp scouting intern for the Packers before working a full-season player personnel internship in Seattle.

Lastly, Zach Smith will go from the NFS/combine scout role he earned two years ago to a college scout. Smith is entering his seventh year with the team.

Here are a few other front office staff updates in the NFC South:

  • The Falcons continue to respect the work done by Michael Ross. After starting in Atlanta as an intern in 2008, Ross has gradually risen through the ranks of the team’s scouting department. According to Neil Stratton of SucceedinFootball.com, his most recent promotion grants him the title of assistant director of college scouting.
  • Finally, the Panthers are bringing on a new hire to their scouting department in Colton Chapple, per Stratton. Chapple hasn’t worked in the NFL for the past two years, working in private business during that time, but prior to his absence, he worked nine years in the Browns’ scouting department.

Buccaneers, Vikings Announce Updates To Front Office, Scouting Departments

June 12th, 2022 at 10:09pm CST by Ely Allen

Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht announced a litany of promotions and new titles in the front office and scouting department this weekend, according to Greg Auman of The Athletic. Rob McCartney and Mike Biehl have both been granted the role of director of player personnel, promotions from their previous roles of director of pro scouting and director of college scouting, respectively. They’ll likely continue to focus on those areas of scouting, but with additional responsibilities added, as well.

Byron Kiefer has been promoted from senior national scout to assistant director of college scouting, Antwan Murray and Tony Hardie have both been promoted from area scouts to national scouts, and Shannon Hogue has been promoted from scouting assistant to scouting analyst. Cesar Rivera and Brian McLaughlin have both been made college scouts, after previously serving as scouting coordinator and NFS/combine scout, respectively, and Zach Smith will step into McLaughlin’s role as combine scout, a step up from his previous role of scouting assistant. Former Jaguars director of college scouting Mark Ellenz has been hired as a college scout and former football operations intern Peighton Roth has been officially brought on as a scouting coordinator.

The Vikings also announced the finishing touches to new general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah‘s staff this weekend. The team added two new hires in pro scout Donovan Jackson and national scout David Williams. Chisom Opara has been promoted from national scout to assistant director of player personnel, Chris Blanco has been promoted from assistant director of pro scouting to director of pro personnel, and Taylor Brooks has been promoted from scouting associate to player personnel analyst.

There were a number of updated title announcements, as well. We knew that former Colts general manager Ryan Grigson would be joining Adofo-Mensah in Minnesota, but we now know he will be in the role of senior vice president of player personnel. Ryan Monnens and Jamaal Stephenson have gone from co-directors of player personnel to director of player personnel and senior personnel executive, respectively, Imarjaye Albury has moved from the coaching role of assistant defensive line coach to pro scout, Sean Gustus has gone from area scout to national scout, and Kaitlin Zarecki has gone from manager of player development/special assistant to the general manager to football operations manager & special assistant to the general manager & head coach.

Finally, Minnesota announced some title changes to the analytics team with director of football analytics & pro scout Scott Kuhn dropping “analytics” for the more specific “quantitative methods.” Similarly, Rex Johnson has gone from research manager to football quantitative methods manager and Chris French has gone from football analyst to football quantitative methods analyst.