Titans Announce Numerous Staff Changes
In the days following the 2026 NFL Draft, there was an early rumor that the Titans were making additions to their scouting staff (via Titans insider Paul Kuharsky). Nearly two weeks later, the Titans finally announced a number of changes to their front office.
The updates included only two external additions of note; Shane Normandeau has been hired to join the Titans as director, pro scout, and Shepley Heard has been named an area scout for Tennessee. Normandeau has been enjoying a return to the personnel side of things as a pro scout for the Vikings the past two seasons after working for two years as football operations coordinator in Cleveland. He joined the Browns as a scouting assistant, holding that role for two years seasons following a football operations internship with the Colts.
Heard is arriving in Nashville following a 21-year tenure with the Falcons. Starting as a scouting assistant in 2005, Heard served two years as a pro scout before spending the next four years as an area scout. He worked the next six years as a regional scout, splitting him time covering the east and west regions, and was promoted to director of pro personnel in 2019. After Terry Fontenot took over as general manager two years later, Heard was demoted down to area scout, where he remained until getting let go after the draft.
There were several promotions in the personnel department. Assistant director of college scouting Mike Boni was named director, college scouting, coordinator, scouting Patrick Woo was named manager, college/pro scouting, regional Wes Slay was named national scout, scouting assistants Alex Kline and Geo Leins were named pro scout and area scout, respectively, executive assistant to the general manager Kristen Van Iderstine was named coordinator, player personnel, and coaches assistant Kevin Perez replaced Van Iderstine as executive assistant to the general manager.
Boni has 20 years of NFL experience with nine in Tennessee. Turning to scouting after coaching at the high school and Division III college levels, Boni spent two years in minor roles in Buffalo before working nine seasons with the Cardinals, two as an NFS scout and seven as an east area scout. He joined the Titans in 2018 as a college scout, moved up to national scout in 2019, and was promoted to senior national scout in 2024 and his most recent role last year.
Woo started as a recruiting intern at Penn State before working as a scouting coordinator for the Senior Bowl. He found his way to the Titans in 2018 and was promoted to college scouting coordinator a year later. He earned a second promotion to his most recent role, and this year’s elevation is already his third in Tennessee. Slay is entering his 13th season with the Titans after joining the team in 2014 as a scouting assistant. He was promoted to midwest area scout before landing in his most recent role.
Kline and Leins were additions to the Titans front office last year. Kline turned to the personnel side of things after his career as a player led him first to coaching. He worked as director of player personnel at Memphis and director of college scouting at Pitt before joining the Titans. Leins also originally came out of college with recruiting roles at Campbell, UCLA, Wake Forest, and NC State. He debuted in the NFL in 2023 as a scouting assistant with the Dolphins before joining the Titans last year.
Van Iderstine has started her climb up the personnel ladder after joining the team last year. She had previously worked a scouting combine internship and Norma Hunt fellowship with the Chiefs and had collegiate experience as director of football administration at Brown and associate director of football recruiting operations at Stanford. Her replacement, Perez, joined the Titans last year after working equipment and football operations internships with the Jaguars every year since 2020.
In operations, the Titans promoted team operations assistants Nick Hardesty and Kieran Gilbert to director, team operations, and coordinator, team operations, respectively, and assistant to the president of football operations Nicole Kesten to chief of staff, football. Hardesty earns his promotion after five years with the team with prior experience in football operations with the Volunteers in Knoxville. Kesten started her NFL career in Tennessee two years ago as the senior executive assistant to the president of football operations, earning title bumps in each subsequent offseason.
Lastly, in the data analytics department, out is director of football research and development Sarah Bailey, according to ESPN’s Seth Walder. Bailey joined the Titans in 2023, coming over from Los Angeles, where she started in 2017 as a football analyst for the Rams before being promoted to manager – football analytics in 2020. The team also announced that chief of staff of football strategy Bryce Wasserman has been promoted to football counsel/head of football research. This is his third promotion in four years after coming into the role of director of team strategy in 2023.
Falcons Part Ways With Exec Chris Olsen, Hire Eagles’ Bryce Johnston
APRIL 29: Johnston will hold the title of senior vice president of football administration/senior personnel executive in Atlanta, per a team announcement. He will thus play a leading role as part of the Falcons’ significantly revamped front office.
APRIL 27: The Falcons are continuing to reshape their front office under new vice president of football operations Matt Ryan and general manager Ian Cunningham. The latest change is the departure of senior director of football administration Chris Olsen, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
Olsen is a longtime NFL executive who began his career working for the NFL Management Council. In 2007, he was hired as the Texans’ senior vice president of football administration, a post he held until his firing in 2020. He then joined the Falcons the following year and played a key role negotiating contracts and managing Atlanta’s tight cap situation over the last several years.
Replacing Olson will be Eagles senior vice president/tertiary football executive Bryce Johnston, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. He spent the last decade working under one of the league’s preeminent contract/cap experts in Howie Roseman, which included the execution of major deals with Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, and several others.
Johnston overlapped with new Falcons GM Ian Cunningham in Philly. Johnston will now take that expertise to Atlanta where he will manage the salary cap, lead contract negotiations, and handle similar roster-related duties under the Falcons’ new regime.
The Falcons are also overhauling their scouting department. The team has parted ways with scouts Alex Brown, Ben Martinez, and Shepley Heard, per KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson. Brown joined the team just last year, while Martinez arrived in 2023. Heard was previously Atlanta’s director of pro personnel under former general manager Thomas Dimitroff, but was demoted to an area scout role when Terry Fontenot took over in 2021.
Falcons Make Front Office Changes
The Falcons have made some changes to their staff, but new GM Terry Fontenot will also keep some big names from the previous regime on the payroll going forward.
Former GMs Phil Emery and Ruston Webster will remain with the Falcons, with the team shifting the pair from scouting roles to spots as senior personnel executives. Emery, the Bears’ GM from 2012-14, and Webster, the Titans’ GM from 2012-15, joined Thomas Dimitroff‘s staff in 2016 as scouts. Emery has worked in the NFL since 1998; Webster’s tenure in the league dates back to 1988.
Additionally, the Falcons are promoting Michael Ross and Tokunbo Abanikanda from area scouts to the national level. Ross has been with the Falcons since Dimitroff’s second year, rising up from the entry level to his current national scout post. Abanikanda, a 10-year Falcons staffer, has done the same since joining the team. Emery and Webster worked as national scouts during Dimitroff’s final five seasons.
Fontenot will also keep other Dimitroff-era staffers, though some will see their roles reduced. Former Chiefs assistant GM Joel Collier will move from national scout to area scout, while Shepley Heard will go from director of pro personnel down to area scout. Heard has been with the Falcons since 2005. Additionally, Benjamin Martinez will follow Fontenot over from New Orleans. A 12-year Saints staffer who worked as a video assistant for the past four years, Martinez will join the Falcons as a BLESTO scout. BLESTO scouts often do advance work on future draft classes.