Howie Roseman will have someone running the scouting department in Joe Douglas, but will still have final say on personnel decisions. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (Matt Rourke)
This in from ESPN late Monday:
The Philadelphia Eagles have beefed up their personnel department with the addition of longtime Baltimore Ravens scout Joe Douglas. The hiring was confirmed by ESPN’s Todd McShay.
Douglas spent the last year as the director of scouting for the Chicago Bears. Prior to that, he spent 15 years as a scout with the Ravens.
Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network reported the Eagles have also hired Ravens scout Andy Weidl.
“The Eagles hit a HR by hiring Joe Douglas,” Jeremiah tweeted Monday. “They followed that up with another HR by adding Andy Weidl, considered one of the NFL’s top evaluators.” Jeremiah, a former Eagles scout, was reportedly interviewed by the Eagles earlier this year for a position.
Who is Joe Douglas? And why does anyone care?
Mark Eckel our old friend from NJ.com broke it down like this:
“Douglas interviewed for the still to be named position — it will likely be vice president of player personnel, the same title Tom Gamble and Ed Marynowitz once held not so long ago — last week.
“Unless there is a drastic change in the team’s structure, Douglas will answer to Howie Roseman, who will still have final say on all personnel decisions.
“Four men who share the same responsibilities with other NFL teams as Douglas shared the same basic sentiments about him: “Good guy” was the first thing three of the four said. The fourth said he just knew him casually.
“All four also described him as “good scout” and a “hard worker.” Pretty good traits and nice things to hear from your peers. Here are five more things to know about Douglas.
USA Today pans Eagles :
“The Virginian: Douglas grew up in Mechanicsville, Virginia and went to Lee-Davis High School where he played four years of football as an offensive tackle.
“Staying Home: He continued his football career at the University of Richmond where he majored in communications and minored in sports administration. On the field he played 45 games at tackle and was All-Atlantic-10 in 1998 and 1999.
“That’s so Raven: After a year of coaching at Richmond, Douglas joined the scouting ranks with the Baltimore Ravens where he was employed from 2000-2014. He started as an area scout in the Northeast, moved to the Southeast and eventually became a National Scout under general manager Ozzie Newsome.
“Bear Necessities: Douglas left the Ravens in 2015 to become the Chicago Bears’ Director of College Scouting. In his only year with the Bears, under general manager Ryan Pace and head coach John Fox, the team had a pretty goof draft last weekend. The Bears moved ahead of the Giants in the first round to select Georgia linebacker Leonard Floyd. They also added guard Cody Whitehair, of Kansas State, in the second round and defensive end Jon Bullard, of Florida in the third round.
“Just Say No: The Cleveland Browns wanted to interview Douglas in January to head up their personnel department, but the Bears did not grant permission for him to interview. That’s not uncommon for a team to deny permission leading up to the draft for obvious reasons. After the draft is when personnel types are either dismissed or move on to better opportunities.”
It matters to the Eagles because they have switched their player scouting mode to a search for player’s current value over player’s reputation or potential.
Joe Douglas is the guy who basically discovered huge value in young players like QB Joe Flacco, G Ben Grubbs, G Marshal Yanda, LB Pernell McPhee, CB Lardarius Webb, RB Ray Rice and OLB Paul Kruger and ILB C.J. Mosley…guys who were way down the radar in terms of national reputation in their respective college careers.
Obviously the Eagles are interested in developing a more value-oriented approach to drafting and signing young players.
Maybe even more significantly, Douglas has a track record of signing underrated undrafted free agents— under his direction, the Ravens have been extremely successful signing rookie free agents over the years. Some recent examples include LBs Jameel McClain (‘08), Dannell Ellerbe (‘09), and Albert McClellan (‘10), and K Justin Tucker (‘12).
Douglas was an original member of Ozzie Newsome’s “20-20” Club in Baltimore— The 20/20 title refers to the younger scouts who are hired in their 20’s for $20,000. Their mission is to intellectually absorb the physical and character traits Ozzie desires most in a young player—then to go out and find the players who embody them.
They are able to cut their teeth as scouts learning the “Ravens Way.” Their input is always encouraged and they are given opportunities to work their way up the ranks. In some cases, the new roles they take on end up being with another organization. But in Ozzie’s mind, that’s okay… there’s enough relevant talent in the football world to go around for everyone.
In my opinion, the hiring of Joe Douglas gives Howie Roseman the extra benefit of having a real football guy advisor on hand with the advantage of providing him with one extra piece of scouting information—a clue to the question “what would Ozzie do?”…
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