Former Giants scout leaves USFL for role with Steelers

Former longtime Giants scout Chris Watts returns to the NFL in a role with the Steelers

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Former New York Giants scout Chris Watts is joining the Pittsburgh Steelers scouting department after a brief stint in the USFL.

Neil Stratton of Inside the League was the first to report the news.

Watts joined the USFL, working with the Pittsburgh Maulers, after his tenure with the Giants ended during the 2021 offseason. He joined the Giants in 2005 as a training camp intern before eventually rising up the ranks as the southwest area scout for five years.

Watts was one of the few left from the Jerry Reese era and now rejoins the NFL scouting world as a part of the new regime in Pittsburgh.

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Two ex-Giants added to 2021 Senior Bowl scouting staff

Two former New York Giants scouts, Ryan Jones and Chris Watts, have been added to the 2021 Senior Bowl scouting staff.

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The Reese’s Senior Bowl, which has become one of the top college sporting events in the nation, announced several changes and additions to their scouting staff on Wednesday.

“We are extremely excited about adding this group of proven talent evaluators to our Reese’s Senior Bowl team. It is hard to imagine there is a more experienced group of college scouts in the NFL than this one,” Jim Nagy, Reese’s Senior Bowl Executive Director, said in a statement.

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“Among our top priorities each year is to bring credibility and transparency to the player selection process and adding another well-connected group of scouts helps us accomplish that for our 2022 game. The pandemic restricted our overall scouting process last year, so we look forward to getting back on the road this fall for live game evaluations each week during the college season.”

Among those added to the Senior Bowl scouting staff was former New York Giants scout Ryan Jones.

Jones has 16 years of NFL experience as an area and regional scout for the New York Football Giants, including being a part of two Super Bowl Championships. Before joining the Giants, he served as a graduate assistant coach at Minnesota and went on to coach defensive backs at the University of New Hampshire and College of the Holy Cross. As a player, he was a captain and all-conference selection at New Hampshire and finished his career with 15 interceptions. Jones earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Hampshire and holds a master’s in administrative science from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Jones, who served as the Giants’ Northeast area scout, was with the team for 20 years before being fired in February of 2020.

Meanwhile, Chris Watts, another former Giants scout, was also among those added to the Senior Bowl scouting staff.

Watts spent the past 16 years in the National Football League as a member of the New York Giants scouting staff. His time with the Giants included three years as a college scouting intern, nine years as the club’s BLESTO combine scout, and the final five years as southwest area scout. Before joining the Giants, Watts spent two years as an offensive line graduate assistant at his alma mater, Langston University. He earned four letters in football and one in track at Langston, where he earned both his undergraduate degree in business administration-management in 1998 and master’s in education in 2006. Watts is a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.

Watts, who initially joined the Giants as a training camp intern in 2005 before rising through the ranks, parted ways with the team back in May of this year. He was among the last remaining members of Jerry Reese’s scouting staff.

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