Tag: scouting department

Vikings finalize football operations and personnel departments for 2023 season

Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah finalized the team’s football ops and personnel departments ahead of the 2023 season.

The Minnesota Vikings finalized their football operations and personnel departments on Friday, the team announced in a statement.

The changes to the departments include ten new hires and four promotions, including a number of new college area and pro scouts.

“We are pleased to finalize our football operations and personnel departments and extend a warm welcome to our new staff members,” Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said in the statement provided by the team. “The Vikings organization is comprised of talented individuals that possess unique skills and strengths and we are excited to continue fostering a collaborative and innovative culture that promotes working together to achieve shared success.”

Here are all the moves made in these departments:

  • Sam DeLuca – Senior Assistant Director of Pro Personnel (new hire)
  • Salli Clavelle – Pro Scout (new hire)
  • Steve Sabo – College Area Scout (new hire)
  • Matt Kelly – College Area Scout (new hire)
  • Jack Murphy – College Scout/BLESTO (new hire)
  • Michelle Makoff – Scouting Associate (new hire)
  • Shantel Rodgers – Scouting Associate (new hire)
  • N’Tare Williamson – Scouting Associate (new hire)
  • Lexus Blunt – Assistant Athletic Trainer (new hire)
  • Anthony Caron – Football Information Systems Developer (new hire)
  • Tyler Williams – Vice President of Player Health and Performance (Promotion)
  • Luke Burson – Director of Football Information Systems (Promotion)
  • Emily Badis – Manager of Football Administration (Promotion)
  • Alex Dale – Pro Scout (Promotion)

Lions add 3 more to scouting and analytics department

The Detroit Lions add 3 more to scouting and analytics department, including the inventor of the NFL Draft Boo-Meter

The Detroit Lions have added three new front office assistants to the team. All three will work in the scouting and analytics department, and two of them are familiar faces.

The new hires:

  • Caio Brighenti, analytics assistant
  • Michael Pelfrey, analytics assistant
  • Ademi Smith, scouting assistant

Brighenti is best-known for creating the NFL Draft boo-meter that appeared on social media during the draft. It tracked the fan reaction to the picks in real-time. He’s one of the few Brazilians now in the NFL.

Pelfrey has been an intern in the Lions’ analytics department for the past two seasons. He now joins Brighenti as full-time members of the growing front office division.

Smith has also been an intern with the Lions over the past seasons, including in training camp last summer. He was most recently a scout with the Shrine Bowl.

Seahawks hire Alonzo Highsmith as personnel executive

The Seattle Seahawks officially hired longtime NFL executive Alonzo Highsmith, making him a personnel executive in the scouting department.

After bringing him on as a consultant ahead of the 2020 NFL draft, the Seattle Seahawks have officially hired longtime league executive Alonzo Highsmith.

Highsmith is listed as a personnel executive on Seattle’s team website. His extensive experience in the NFL includes 19 years spent with the Green Bay Packers. He was promoted to senior personnel executive in 2012 and held that position until he left in 2018 to become the Browns’ vice president of player personnel.

Highsmith was let go by the Browns in January after the team hired Andrew Barry as their new general manager, and he was reunited with Seahawks general manager John Schneider in February as a consultant.

Highsmith and Schneider worked together in Green Bay for eight seasons from 2002-2009.

Highsmith’s long track record in the NFL goes back even further, as he played fullback in the league from 1987-1992 with the Houston Oilers, Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before embarking on a brief career as a professional boxer, and eventually landing in Green Bay’s scouting department.

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