Giants Hire First Full-time Female Scout
Twenty-five year old Hannah Burnett's involvement with sports extends as far back as she can recall.
The newest member of the team's scouting department was a standout lacrosse, soccer, and basketball player at Huntington High School on Long Island.
She continued her love affair with sports at UMass, where she played lacrosse, earning honors as a two-time all-region and all-conference player and three-time conference champion in addition to being named a team captain by her peers.
After college, she had a brief stint at Long Island Yellow Jackets Lacrosse, where she was the assistant manager. She broke into the NFL as an events operations intern with the Bills in the summer of 2017 before returning to UMass for a couple of posts.
"I played sports forever, ever since I can remember," Burnett said in a team-issued press release announcing her hire as well as the hires of other front-office personnel.
"To be able to be part of a team again, that's working toward one common goal is what I've been doing my whole life. I've always been a part of a team. It's helped me transition into the NFL. When I got to UMass and majored in sports management, I knew I wanted to work in sports in some capacity."
She then returned to the NFL to serve as a personnel intern and then a player personnel assistant for the league office, before joining the Atlanta Falcons, first as a scouting coordinator and then as a full-time scouting assistant.
Burnett will now be the Giants Midlands Area Scout, the first female to be hired as a full-time scout in the Giants franchise history.
Burnett's path to the Giants came together over a two-day period in which she interviewed via video teleconference first with vice president of football operations and assistant general manager Kevin Abrams, director of college scouting Chris Pettit, and assistant director of player personnel Tim McDonnell.
The next day, she interviewed with general manager Dave Gettleman, who offered her the job.
But don't call Hannah Burnett a trailblazer.
"I try not to think about that," she said. "I completely understand and am aware that this is an awesome opportunity, and it's important for females in the league. But I've said this from the get-go, I just want to be the best area scout that I can.
"I want to go in there like everyone else goes in there and go about my business like a pro. Everything else will work itself out if I go about my business the right way. For me, that's my mindset. It's always been my mindset. I'm just continuing to stay on that course."
She also is focused on finding the best possible talent to help the Giants become a winning football franchise.
"The only thing I care about is for us to win the Super Bowl," she said. "Our main goal as a team is to win a Super Bowl. That's my goal, that's everybody's goal."
