Falcons executive Phil Emery will leave his post with the organization, opting to retire after nearly 25 years in NFL front offices. Emery enjoyed two stints with the Falcons, the most recent beginning in 2016.
Best known for his time with the Bears, Emery, 64, broke into the scouting ranks with the then-NFC Central team in the late 1990s and, after time with other organizations, returned to become the team’s GM in 2012. That tenure lasted just three seasons, with Emery and HC Marc Trestman fired after the 2014 campaign ended.
Emery fired longtime Bears HC Lovie Smith in 2013, hiring Trestman, a veteran offensive coordinator who also enjoyed great success in the CFL. The Bears, who went 10-6 in Smith’s final season, completed 8-8 and 5-11 seasons under Trestman.
Emery assembled the most statistically productive wide receiver duo in Bears history, trading for Brandon Marshall in 2012 and pairing him with 2012 second-round pick Alshon Jeffery. The two worked with Jay Cutler, acquired by a previous regime but extended under Emery, before Emery successor Ryan Pace traded Marshall in 2015. The Bears ranked second offensively in 2013, doing so as a Cutler injury helped foster Josh McCown‘s resurgence, and played for the NFC North title in a Week 17 game against the Packers. Back from injury, Aaron Rodgers led the Packers past the Bears in that game. Chicago’s offense then regressed in 2014, and its defense had nosedived during Trestman’s stay.
Prior to his run atop Chicago’s front office, Emery served as the Falcons and Chiefs’ director of scouting. The Falcons assembled part of their early-2010s core during Emery’s initial Atlanta stint, when the team drafted Roddy White and Matt Ryan. Emery spent much of the 1980s and ’90s as a college strength and conditioning coach.
Following the Bears ouster, Emery returned to the Falcons in 2016, when the team hired both he and ex-Titans GM Ruston Webster as national scouts. Although current GM Terry Fontenot had not worked with Emery previously, he kept the veteran personnel man on upon being hired in 2021. Emery and Webster moved into senior personnel executive roles upon Fontenot’s arrival.
“It’s not just the fact you have that knowledge; it’s the willingness to share it,” Fontenot said of Emery. “That was a great thing about Phil. He was great in the room and is passionate about the game and its details. To hear him talk about a player was so valuable. He was open and willing to share his experience, whether something went well, or it didn’t. The wisdom and openness was so huge for us.”
A few Falcons staffers have moved on this offseason. The Titans hired Anthony Robinson as their co-assistant GM, and the Cardinals’ new front office staff now includes ex-Falcons staffer Rob Kisiel.
Nuked the Bears
I think Emery did the best he could given the constraints the terrible ownership placed on him. He was light years better than Pace who overspent badly on the ineffective Glennon and drafted the always injured Kevin White as a first rounder.
Better than Pace, certainly, but the Smith firing looked awful in hindsight considering how successful his final season was in comparison to the following ones. Now, that 10-6 season could have certainly been the tipping point before a stiff nosedive, but that’s hypothetical at this point.
Trestman was an interesting, out of the box hire, but those come with great risk and it’s difficult to translate success to the NFL from lower level (college) or outside sports. Trestman took over a competitive team and rebuilt it, with Emery’s direction. It’s easy and I think at least reasonable to put a good deal of the blame for how it didn’t work out on them. What followed was of course much worse.
The only question I would have is the level of ownership’s specific involvement in the Lovie firing and post-Lovie era. Was that firing done at their behest, or Emery’s suggestion? Was the transition and hiring of an outside the box head coach Emery’s idea, or ownership’s? Those are questions that I would have when gauging how much blame to assign to Emery today. Undoubtedly, I think that he deserves some for kicking it off (at a bare minimum), but at least Chicago had some decent offenses with Trestman, which is a small achievement on the part of the Bears in the face of that regression.
George Halas wanted to control all aspects of the Bears operations and I don’t think the McCaskey’s have shifted away from that philosophy to any great degree. There were even times when Chicago’s favorite son Mike Ditka had difficulty dealing with the stubborn owners.
I could easily see that, and would not be surprised to see that being the case.
Willingly or lack of job opportunities?