Eagles Announce Front Office Changes; Rod Streater, Ben Ijalana Join Scouting Staff
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.
OC Shane Steichen To Call Eagles’ Plays
Although the Eagles hired an offense-oriented head coach in Nick Sirianni, he will work in a sideline CEO-type role next season. Offensive coordinator Shane Steichen will call Philadelphia’s plays in 2022, he said Friday (via the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane, on Twitter).
This will not necessarily represent a change. Sirianni began his Eagles debut season calling plays, but he handed the reins to Steichen midway through the campaign. That resulted in a shift for the team, which used a more run-centric offense down the stretch to craft a surprise playoff route.
Steichen’s role in the offense does make Sirianni’s stand out. The former Colts offensive coordinator did not call plays while in that post, with Frank Reich doing so. Most of the league’s head coaches with offensive backgrounds call their teams’ plays. Sirianni’s approach resembles Mike McCarthy‘s in Dallas, where OC Kellen Moore holds that responsibility.
“I think last year, we were a new staff and we were evolving as an offense. And so as the season got going on, I ended up taking over more of the play-calling midseason,” Steichen said, via Eagles Wire’s Glenn Irby. “And then, again, Nick has a stamp on every single thing we do. So in the meeting rooms, he has a stamp on everything we do. Every play that’s on that call sheet, he makes sure it’s justified and we’re good to go.”
Steichen’s previous position was as a play-caller for a team with an offense-geared HC (Anthony Lynn). The Chargers promoted Steichen to OC during the 2019 season, and he continued to call plays in 2020, playing a central role in Justin Herbert‘s Offensive Rookie of the Year campaign. Steichen’s encore in this role illustrated a willingness to play to a team’s strengths. The Eagles became the first team since the 1985 Bears to rush for at least 175 yards in seven straight games. Philly finished the season as the NFL’s top-ranked rushing attack.
Steichen, 37, may need to adjust again given the personnel change that occurred on the draft’s first night. The team’s key ball-carrying principals — Miles Sanders, Boston Scott, Jalen Hurts — return, but Philly’s offense figures to change now that A.J. Brown is on the team. Brown comes from a Titans team that also centered its offense around the ground game, but the Eagles authorized a wide receiver-record $56MM fully guaranteed upon trading for the fourth-year playmaker. That will require an increased aerial focus, something that should help the team determine Hurts’ long-term viability.
Eagles Promote Alec Halaby To Assistant GM
The re-working of the Eagles’ front office continues. Not long after it was reported one longtime staffer was being promoted to the role of assistant general manager, another has been given the same title. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reports (on Twitter) that Alec Halaby is Philadelphia’s newest AGM.
[RELATED: Eagles To Promote Jon Ferrari To Assistant GM]
Halaby will join Jon Ferrari in making the transition from vice president of football operations to this elevated role. The former held his previous title – VP of football operations and strategy – since 2016. Prior to that, he worked as a special assistant to general manager Howie Roseman.
Overall, Halaby’s time with the Eagles dates back to 2007, and includes a two-year stint as a player personnel analyst not long after he joined the team. His ascension up the ranks in Philadelphia’s front office has been marked by work across a number of departments and the inclusion of analytics in decision-making. Interestingly, his promotion comes after many believed Steelers executive Brandon Hunt – who interviewed with the Eagles and was a serious candidate for Pittsburgh’s GM job – would be in line for a cross-state move.
The decision to promote Ferrari and Halaby also comes after the Eagles suffered a number of key executive losses. Catherine Raiche, Brandon Brown, Ian Cunningham and Andy Weidl have all departed this offseason to take AGM roles elsewhere. A number of other front office personnel have been let go, leaving several further moves to be made by Roseman in the coming days and weeks. Regardless of what decisions he makes in that regard for the remainder of the offseason, he will have two new, yet familiar, faces serving as lieutenants.
Nine Teams Gain Cap Space From Post-June 1 Cuts
Although early June no longer serves as a stretch in which a wave of veterans are released for cap-saving purposes, June 2 still serves as an important calendar date for certain teams annually. Nine teams qualify as beneficiaries this year.
Eleven players were designated as post-June 1 cuts this year, via CBS Sports’ Joel Corry. Due to a longstanding CBA provision, teams that designate players as post-June 1 releases see the dead-money burden lessened for that year. Teams can designate up to two players as post-June 1 releases each year.
Here are 2022’s post-June 1 cuts, along with the belated cap savings the teams picked up Thursday:
Arizona Cardinals
- DL Jordan Phillips; 2022 cap savings: $10MM (story)
Chicago Bears
- RB Tarik Cohen; 2022 cap savings: $4MM (story)
- LB Danny Trevathan; 2022 cap savings: $3.3MM (story)
Cleveland Browns
- TE Austin Hooper; 2022 cap savings: $9.5MM (story)
Dallas Cowboys
- T La’el Collins; 2022 cap savings: $10MM (story)
Las Vegas Raiders
- LB Cory Littleton; 2022 cap savings: $11.8MM (story)
- DE Carl Nassib; 2022 cap savings: $8MM (story)
Philadelphia Eagles
- DT Fletcher Cox; 2022 cap savings: $2.1MM (story)
Seattle Seahawks
- DE Carlos Dunlap; 2022 cap savings: $5.1MM (story)
Tennessee Titans
- WR Julio Jones; 2022 cap savings: $9.5MM (story)
Washington Commanders
- S Landon Collins; 2022 cap savings: $11.9MM (story)
As detailed in PFR’s glossary, post-June 1 cuts spread dead-money hits over two years. These teams will be taking on dead money this year and next. A few of the 2023 hits are substantial, but the league’s cap-space hierarchy changed significantly Thursday as well.
Because of multiple restructures, Raiders will carry $9.9MM in Littleton dead money next year. The Cowboys will take on $8.7MM in 2023 for cutting Collins, while the Titans will be hit with $8.4MM for their Jones release. Cleveland, which just gave David Njoku a $14.2MM-per-year deal, will carry a $7.5MM dead-money cost next year due to shedding Hooper’s eight-figure-AAV deal early. The Eagles will be tagged with $11.5MM for their Cox cut, with Corry noting that is the net difference because of a $3.2MM salary cap credit regarding Cox’s 2022 bonus proration. Philadelphia re-signed the perennial Pro Bowler on a one-year, $14MM deal.
Hooper’s release pushes Cleveland’s cap space to beyond $40MM; the Browns’ overall cap-space edge is now a whopping $15MM. That should help the team address multiple needs ahead of training camp. Other teams have more options now, too. As of Thursday, the Raiders hold the NFL’s third-most cap space ($22.5MM, per OverTheCap). The $10MM the Cowboys saved moves them up to fourth in cap space ($22.49MM), while the Bears ($22.2MM), Commanders ($18.4MM) and Seahawks ($17MM) now sit fifth, sixth and seventh.
A handful of this year’s post-June 1 cut crop joined Cox in taking advantage of the modern setup, which allows these cap casualties to become free agents immediately — rather than waiting until June to hit the market. In place since the 2006 CBA, this adjustment let veterans loose early while keeping their cap figures on teams’ payrolls through May. Collins quickly joined the Bengals, while Littleton landed with the Panthers, Hooper signed with the Titans, and Phillips returned to the Bills. The remainder of this group remains unsigned. The savings this lot of teams inherited Thursday may help some of these players’ causes in free agency.
Eagles To Add Steelers’ Brandon Hunt To Front Office
After Andy Weidl became the fourth Eagles executive to become an assistant general manager elsewhere this offseason, the NFC East franchise plans to hire one of the other finalists for the Steelers’ GM job.
Longtime Steelers exec Brandon Hunt is expected to become part of Howie Roseman‘s Eagles staff, Geoff Mosher of InsidetheBirds.com tweets. Hunt interviewed for a high-ranking Eagles position earlier this month and, after the Steelers opted to promote Omar Khan to GM, the former was believed to be looking into outside options.
Pittsburgh’s pro scouting director, Hunt had been with the team in a full-time capacity since 2010. However, a few teams sought meetings with the veteran scouting staffer. The Raiders interviewed Hunt for their GM job, and the Bills joined the Eagles in interviewing him for a top lieutenant post. Hunt met with Buffalo about an assistant GM vacancy.
While Philly is promoting Jon Ferrari to assistant GM, the team is open to having multiple staffers in that role. It is unknown if Hunt will work alongside Ferrari directly under Roseman, but it is clear he will be one of the Eagles’ new top staffers. This will be a scouting position, per Mosher. Most recently, Hunt played a pivotal role in the then-Kevin Colbert-led franchise adding Joe Haden as a late-summer free agent in 2017 and trading for Minkah Fitzpatrick two years later.
Weidl joined Hunt, Khan and three other execs in receiving second interviews for the Steelers’ GM gig. Now Pittsburgh’s assistant GM under Khan, Weidl followed Brandon Brown (Giants), Ian Cunningham (Bears) and Catherine Raiche (Browns) in leaving Philly to become a No. 2 staffer with another team.
Latest On Eagles LG Isaac Seumalo
As June 1 approaches, a number of names will be making headlines as potential cut candidates. One such player is Eagles offensive linemen Isaac Seumalo, whom Mike Kaye of Pro Football Network reports could find himself on the open market soon. 
As Kaye writes, “there stands a chance” that the 28-year-old could be let go shortly. Seumalo has been with the Eagles for his entire career, after the team drafted him in 2016. He has made 64 appearances, including 43 starts, over the course of his NFL tenure. That stretch only includes one season in which he was available for a full season, however.
Seumalo has struggled to stay on the field since 2019. This past campaign, he suffered a Lisfranc injury in Week 3 which ultimately ended his season. One year prior, he was only able to play in nine games. That raises the question of whether or not the team will allow him to see out the final year of his contract.
The former third-rounder signed a three-year deal in 2019, although the Eagles added three void years to the end of the contract. He is due $5.65MM in salary, but, since none of it is guaranteed, the team could save that much by cutting him at the start of the month. Doing so would incur a dead cap charge of just over $2MM. If they decide to keep him, he will carry a cap hit of $7.67MM.
As Kaye notes, the Eagles have a number of options to choose from, should they decide to cut bait with Seumalo. Landon Dickerson impressed as a rookie, and the team also has Jack Driscoll as an option at guard. While Dickerson and Seumalo were also seen at times as successors to center Jason Kelce, that title now belongs to 2022 draftee Cam Jurgens. If the Hawaiian is indeed released, Kaye also predicts a mid-level veteran signing to take place to compete with the team’s younger linemen.
Eagles Expected To Promote Jon Ferrari To Assistant GM
A day after another of Howie Roseman‘s top lieutenants left the organization, the Eagles will promote from within. They are expected to elevate Jon Ferrari to their assistant general manager post, veteran NFL reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala tweets.
This might not be the only assistant GM under Roseman, per Kinkhabwala, who adds Steelers executive Brandon Hunt is also name to watch for a move to Philadelphia. Hunt could be in line for a vice president-type role with the Eagles.
Hunt interviewed twice for the Steelers’ GM job, but the team went with Omar Khan. Ex-Eagles exec Andy Weidl will be Khan’s right-hand man, opening the door for Hunt — the current Steelers pro scouting coordinator — to explore outside options. The Eagles interviewed Hunt for a high-ranking job earlier this month. With the Bills meeting with Hunt about their assistant GM job, it appears he is strongly considering leaving Pittsburgh.
News of Ferrari’s promotion comes after Colts exec Morocco Brown was no longer in the running for the post. A front office structure featuring Ferrari and Hunt as Roseman’s top lieutenants would resemble the new Browns hierarchy. Cleveland hired ex-Philadelphia exec Catherine Raiche recently; she and Glenn Cook will be the Browns’ assistant GMs under Andrew Berry.
Ferrari has been with the Eagles since 2016 and has worked mainly in the team’s compliance department. His most recent position was vice president of football operations and compliance, a role he began filling in 2019. A void remains in Philly’s front office, however, with most of Roseman’s top staffers either leaving or being dismissed. Four Roseman charges became assistant GMs with other teams this year.
The Eagles have lost Raiche, Andy Weidl, Casey Weidl, Brandon Brown, Ian Cunningham and Tom Donahoe this offseason. Brown (Giants) and Cunningham (Bears) joined Raiche and Andy Weidl in becoming assistant GMs elsewhere. The Eagles fired Casey Weidl, and Donahoe — a 10-year staffer who previously headed up the Steelers and Bills’ front offices — parted ways with the team after the draft.
Latest On Steelers’ Front Office
Tuesday brought about an end to the lengthy search conducted by the Steelers to find their new general manager. With Omar Khan being promoted to the role, other moves are forthcoming as well. 
[RELATED: Khan To Become Next Steelers’ GM]
Veteran NFL reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala tweets that Pittsburgh is set to hire Sheldon White as an addition to their player personnel department, creating an overlap in duties with Andy Weidl. The latter was announced as the Steelers’ new assistant GM just before the Khan news came out.
White began his front office career with the Lions in 1997. The bulk of his tenure with the team was spent in their personnel department, where he worked from 2000 to 2015. The 57-year-old took over as interim GM after Martin Mayhew was fired midseason, but that year was his last in Detroit. He departed not long after the team selected Bob Quinn as its new GM, working in Washington as a scout this past season. White’s son, Colby, has worked in the Steelers’ front office for the past two years.
Kinkhabwala also reports, however, that Brandon Hunt could be on the move soon. The other internal candidate to be given consideration for Pittsburgh’s GM job, Hunt has received interest from both the Bills and Eagles this offseason. Not surprisingly given yesterday’s developments, then, Kinkhabwala states that Hunt “could be in line for a VP spot” in Philadelphia. Such a hire would mark a significant addition for the Eagles, but it would create another notable vacancy in the Steelers’ new-look front office.
Steelers To Hire Eagles’ Andy Weidl As Assistant GM
One of the many executives to interview for the Steelers’ general manager post, Andy Weidl will trek to Pittsburgh for a different position. The Steelers are naming the Eagles exec their new assistant GM, according to veteran NFL reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala (on Twitter).
Weidl, a Pittsburgh native who was one of six execs to receive second interviews with the Steelers, will come across Pennsylvania after an offseason of Eagles front office turnover. The Eagles fired Andy Weidl’s brother, Casey, from his scouting director position amid their run of changes under Howie Roseman.
[RELATED: Steelers Conclude GM Interviews]
The Steelers have not named Kevin Colbert‘s successor yet, but Kinkhabwala offers their Andy Weidl hire points to an Omar Khan promotion. The longtime Steelers exec joined Brandon Hunt as the lone in-house staffers to receive second interviews for the GM position. Andy Weidl first interviewed for the Steelers’ GM gig in February and met with the team again this month.
Weidl spent six-plus years with the Eagles but has more than two decades of NFL scouting experience. He ended his Philadelphia tenure as the team’s vice president of player personnel. This will mark another position Roseman must replace; that list has steadily expanded throughout the offseason.
In addition to hailing from Pittsburgh, Weidl has Steelers experience — albeit more than 20 years ago. He interned with the Steelers in the late 1990s during Tom Donahoe‘s atop the front office. Weidl then began his full-time career working with the Saints and Ravens, jumping to the Eagles in 2016. Weidl and Donahoe reunited with the Eagles, but Donahoe and the team parted ways shortly after the draft. Donahoe was one of many high-ranking Eagles execs to leave Philly this offseason, joining Ian Cunningham, Catherine Raiche and Brandon Brown. All three young execs are now assistant GMs elsewhere.
Eagles Claim CB Jimmy Moreland
The Eagles have added a second veteran cornerback in two weeks, with the latest also being a former NFC East cover man. Following James Bradberry‘s Philadelphia signing, the team claimed Jimmy Moreland off waivers.
Houston waived Moreland on Sunday, doing so after claiming him just before last season. A James Madison alum who became a Washington seventh-round pick in 2019, Moreland has not yet made it to free agency, being claimed twice. One season remains on Moreland’s twice-passed-around rookie contract.
Moreland, who intercepted a school-record 18 passes at James Madison and scored six defensive touchdowns, started five games for Washington in both the 2019 and ’20 seasons. He intercepted a pass in 2020 and allowed just a 74.1 rating while in coverage that season. Washington waived Moreland with an injury designation in 2021, leading to a Texans claim. He played in seven games and saw only eight defensive snaps with Houston last season.
The 5-foot-11 defender profiles as an option in the slot, with The Athletic’s Zach Berman noting he may represent competition for Josiah Scott to become Avonte Maddox‘s inside backup (Twitter link). If nothing else, Moreland provides more experience to a cornerback group that lacked it beyond Maddox and Darius Slay last week. Tay Gowan, Zech McPhearson and Kary Vincent were 2021 draftees; Gowan and Vincent did not see much playing time as rookies.
To make room for Moreland on their offseason roster, the Eagles waived defensive end Joe Ostman with a failed-physical designation.