Inside the Upheaval in the Eagles' Scouting Department
PHILADELPHIA - The attrition in the Eagles' scouting department is historic in many ways, losing five key executives over the past six months with the latest being Andy Weidl, the organization's top scout who left to become the assistant general manager in Pittsburgh.
From a macro standpoint, the defections might highlight a problem to those outside the organization.
There are, however, explanations for each individual move in a micro sense.
Former co-directors of player personnel Ian Cunningham and Brandon Brown got clear promotions to assistant GM gigs with the Chicago Bears and New York Giants, respectively, while former VP of football operations Catherine Raiche left for an assistant GM job in Cleveland under her former mentor Andrew Berry, someone she simply wanted to work for again.
From there it was legendary personnel executive Tom Donahoe leaving his senior advisor job with his contract expiring. At 75 years old, it's at least conceivable that Donahoe really did want to turn the page on his own accord.
That brings us to Weidl, who Howie Roseman himself expected back if Pittsburgh didn't tab him for its GM job.
When the Steelers stayed in-house and true to their core continuity belief with Omar Khan, they also managed to convince Weidl, a Steel City-area native, to come home with an assistant GM title, on the surface a lateral move in which Weidl will be leading the scouting department just like he did in Philadelphia but also answering to another executive.
In hindsight, though, if the Eagles really wanted to keep Weidl in the wake of losing his top two lieutenants why not offer him the assistant GM title?
More so, why essentially fire his younger brother - former director of scouting operations Casey Weidl - and try to convince his mentor Donahoe to stay even if the workload is further scaled back?
The fact that Weidl missed the pre-draft availability press conference with an illness and looked like he would have rather been anywhere else at the day-end draft pressers are also dots to connect when explaining his exit from the NovaCare Complex.
Weidl already had one foot out the door.
If someone was offering, he was leaving and the Eagles weren't trying to change his mind.
"It’s quite a disaster for one six-month period to lose all those key pieces," a former NFL executive told Eagles Today. "They’ve got a lot of roles to fill and it has to be done carefully if they want to maintain this system they’ve put in place these past two draft cycles."
The Eagles frame it as a good thing that the rest of the league considers their employees well-trained enough to offer them jobs but whispers that Roseman is difficult to work with are surfacing again, a narrative that began in his first stint as the organization's leader.
Howie Roseman
The 2016 model in which the Eagles hired Joe Douglas, now the GM of the Jets, to run the scouting department with Weidl as his right-hand man will be difficult to replicate.
"Howie doesn’t have a Joe Douglas/Andy Weidl combo on board now and it’ll be tough to find anyone of that caliber," the exec said.
That doesn't mean the cupboard is bare in what was a stacked front office and scouting department.
Expect promotions to be announced for compliance guru Joe Ferrari, director of college scouting Alan Wolking, Southeast area scout Phil Bhaya, senior pro scout Jeff Scott, and pro scout Ameena Soliman, among others.
Outside additions already reported will include long-time Broncos executive Matt Russell, who will be bringing along Jordan Dizon, as well as former Cleveland scout Charles Walls.
"All of the guys who’ve grown up in the organization know how to deal with [Roseman] and I think as long as they stay involved with the process, it’ll be smooth," the executive said. "Alan Wolking, Anthony Patch, Max Gruder, Phil Bhaya, all have a big impact. ... The new guy Charles Walls I know will be a great fit personality-wise, too."
Wolking and Bhaya specifically have gotten notice outside the NovaCare Complex.
"I think they’d do themselves a favor by promoting Alan Wolking and Phil Bhaya to oversight positions and let them run the college scouting," a former NFL scout said. "They’re the ones providing the great evaluations."
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Pittsburgh pro scouting coordinator Brandon Hunt could be the leader in the clubhouse for Weidl's job after things broke down between the Eagles and Colts director of scouting Morocco Brown.
"The issue with losing your head scout is that when you look for scouts to fill that vacuum, you need to know where to look," the executive said. "They’ll be looking toward Brandon Hunt and some others I’m sure, but it’s a tough role to fill."
When there is a power vacuum in any walk of life, someone is going to try to fill the void and what we might be seeing is Roseman 2.0 regressing to the vintage edition when it comes to the ability to play with others.
What can't be debated, however, is that Roseman has grown into his job and the knocks of the cap guy with gel in his hair getting the rolling eyes from the football people ignore what many have called the best offseason in the NFL.
Roseman is using the attrition the Eagles have suffered as the impetus to re-imagine the scouting department into one that is more closely aligned with his vision.
"There will probably always be attrition in some way with how they’re structured and Howie being the decision-maker," the executive said. "It’s just shocking how much happened in six months."
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
