Matt Russell

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.

Eagles To Hire Matt Russell, Interview Colts’ Morocco Brown

May 10th, 2022 at 6:55pm CST by Sam Robinson

Although longtime Broncos executive Matt Russell was previously headed toward stepping away from football, the Eagles are luring him back. Russell will join Howie Roseman‘s front office staff, Bo Wulf of The Athletic reports (subscription required).

Philadelphia’s Russell addition comes shortly after Tom Donahoe‘s exit, and Wulf notes Russell will serve in the same senior personnel exec-type role Donahoe had. The Eagles have lost a host of high-ranking front office staffers this offseason — from Donahoe to Brandon Brown to Ian Cunningham to Catherine Raiche, with the latter trio each moving into second-in-command roles elsewhere — but will add Russell, who spent several years as a right-hand man in Denver.

Elway promoted Russell to director of player personnel in 2012. Elway and Russell rebuilt a Broncos team that had drifted off the contention radar for a while, adding a host of free agents, productive late-round picks and UDFAs to supplement their Peyton Manning-led squad. This resulted in the team earning four straight playoff byes during Manning’s tenure, voyaging to two Super Bowls and winning Super Bowl 50.

When Elway vacated his role atop Denver’s front office after the 2020 season, Russell left as well. He spent 2021 out of football. Roseman is still filling out his staff but will turn to Russell, 48, as a key personnel man going forward. This will be Russell’s second stint with the Eagles. He worked in Philly as a scout from 2006-08, when Roseman was rising through the team’s front office to his eventual GM role. Russell became the Broncos’ college scouting director in 2009.

The Eagles also have Colts scouting director Morocco Brown on their radar. They are set to interview Brown this week, according to InsidetheBirds.com’s Geoff Mosher and Adam Caplan (via Twitter). Brown interviewed for the Steelers’ GM job earlier this offseason but has not received a second interview yet. The Eagles will interview Brown for a “high-ranking position” and are considering Steelers scouting director Brandon Hunt and Senior Bowl director Jim Nagy. The team interviewed Hunt over the weekend, per Caplan and Mosher.

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.

Broncos Announce Front Office Moves

May 29th, 2020 at 5:14pm CST by Sam Robinson

Matt Russell has been with the Broncos since Josh McDaniels‘ run as head coach, and the team rewarded the holdover from the previous regime Friday.

The Broncos promoted Russell to VP of player personnel, the team announced on Friday. This will be Russell’s 12th year with the franchise. Previously the team’s player personnel director for nearly eight years, Russell has overseen the Broncos’ pro and college personnel departments during most of John Elway‘s tenure. Although Elway did not hire him, Denver’s current GM continues to hold Russell in high regard.

The former Patriots and Eagles scout played a key role in the Broncos’ drafts in the late 2010s, ones that produced better returns than the team’s selection hauls immediately preceding them, and before that helped Elway transform Denver’s roster in between Super Bowls XLVIII and 50.

Although Russell has not been mentioned in GM searches, his and Elway’s partnership has given the Broncos rare continuity. Only the Patriots (Bill Belichick–Nick Caserio) and Cowboys (Jerry and Stephen Jones) have seen their top two personnel execs work together this long — among active staffs — according to the Broncos’ website.

Denver also promoted another staffer who arrived during its previous regime. Mark Thewes, who began as assistant to McDaniels in 2009, will now serve as VP of football operations. Thewes was previously the Broncos’ director of team administration. Additionally, the Broncos promoted western regional scout Darren Mougey to assistant director of college scouting.