T.J. McCreight

Eagles, Tom Donahoe To Part Ways

The Eagles will have several new faces in their personnel department before the 2022 season begins. Another notable name is out of the picture post-draft.

Ten-year Philadelphia executive Tom Donahoe will part ways with the team, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane, who notes the sides decided not to work out another contract. A post-draft meeting led to this conclusion, and Donahoe will follow several execs out the door in Philly this offseason.

A Pittsburgh native, Donahoe led the Steelers front office for most of the 1990s, working alongside Bill Cowher to help the team become a perennial contender again. After his 2000 ouster, Donahoe took over as the Bills’ general manager in 2001. That tenure did not go as well, and the Bills moved on after the 2005 season. Donahoe, however, established a longtime partnership with the Eagles, one that began in 2012. It is unclear if the 75-year-old decision-maker plans to retire.

Although the Donahoe-Howie Roseman fist bump-failure moment went viral during Day 2 of the 2021 draft, the veteran exec stayed on for another year and had been with the Eagles through four head-coaching regimes. Donahoe oversaw the team’s scouting department for a stretch in 2016, when Roseman had regained power after Chip Kelly‘s short but memorable stretch at the helm.

Donahoe’s departure is the latest of several exits. Scouting director Casey Weidl, brother of Eagles player personnel VP Andy Weidlis out. The Eagles also moved on from southwest area scout Shawn Heinlen, according to InsidetheBirds.com’s Geoff Mosher and Adam Caplan (on Twitter), and exec T.J. McCreight, per McLane. These moves follow VP of football operations Catherine Raiche‘s exit for Cleveland, director of player personnel Brandon Brown‘s move to the Giants and senior scout Ian Cunningham‘s Bears hire. Both Brown and Cunningham are now in assistant GM roles, with Raiche’s Browns job believed to be on that level as well. Roseman will have a few hires to make in the coming weeks.

Colts To Make Personnel Changes

The Colts made a change by ousting GM Ryan Grigson and bringing in Chris Ballard, but with Jim Irsay waiting until a few weeks had transpired in the offseason to fire Grigson and begin a search, the team did not make a sweeping staff overhaul immediately following Ballard’s arrival. After the draft, though, the franchise has more changes planned.

T.J. McCreight will not see a sixth season running the Colts’ scouting department, with ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter reporting (via Twitter) the Colts are moving on from their director of college scouting. Schefter adds that others within the department won’t be back under Ballard, who already has some new scouting staffers in mind, according to the Indianapolis Star’s Stephen Holder (on Twitter).

Holder adds that the changes to the franchise’s personnel department will be widespread (Twitter link), but considering Ballard’s late-January hire, letting the scouts continue through the draft isn’t exactly surprising. McCreight spent five seasons working under Grigson after arriving from the Cardinals, with whom he served as the director of pro personnel.

One new staffer the Colts are interested in: Seahawks senior personnel executive Ed Dodds. Both Holder and CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora report (Twitter links) that Dodds is a Ballard target. Dodds has been on the Colts’ radar for more than a month. Ballard decided to make this scouting pivot now rather than have scouts working in a largely lame-duck capacity going forward.