The Eagles' long search for a personnel head officially ended on Wednesday afternoon.
As expected, the team named former Bears director of college scouting Joe Douglas as their vice president of player personnel.
In addition to Douglas, the Eagles also hired Andy Weidl (pronounced WHY-del) as their assistant director of player personnel. Douglas and Weidl worked together for many years with the Ravens, under respected personnel man Ozzie Newsome.
While it became clear over the last few months that vice president of football operations Howie Roseman is the top football executive within the organization, the release from the team spelled it out, saying "Douglas will report" to Roseman.
"It's imperative to me that we have a player personnel department that is not only top-notch and innovative, but has excellent communication with all phases of our football operations," Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said in a release. "It's a crucial part of the success of an NFL franchise and it will always be a priority for me. I'm very pleased how thorough and patient we were with the search process that began in January.
"With the additions of Joe Douglas and Andy Weidl, along with the other changes we have made, we all feel that we will have a strong department of talent evaluators that will work well with all facets of football operations to make the best decisions for our franchise and for our fans."
Douglas, who spent last season with the Bears after 15 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, was the first new known candidate to interview for the position under Roseman after the Eagles suspended their search process after hiring Doug Pederson as head coach.
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The Eagles announced the search for the new personnel head when they introduced Pederson as the team's head coach in January. The team needed to fill out the front office after firing head coach/de facto GM Chip Kelly and VP of player personnel Ed Marynowitz in December. But shortly after the Eagles started the search that ultimately ended with Douglas, they suspended it, choosing instead to wait until after the draft to fill the position.
"He is a guy that we had targeted from the outset," Roseman said in the release. "I feel that we are very fortunate to have him lead our player personnel department. [Ravens GM] Ozzie Newsome and [Bears GM] Ryan Pace spoke very highly of him and his work. He is passionate about football, passionate about scouting and he played a vital role in the success of the Ravens over the last decade."
Weidl spent the last 11 seasons with the Ravens and was most recently their East regional scout from 2013 to 2015. He was an offensive lineman at Villanova in the mid-1990s.
"Andy also comes from the Ozzie Newsome tree of talent evaluators in Baltimore and he has a great working relationship with Joe," Roseman said. "I spoke with Tom Donahoe, who hired Andy in Pittsburgh, and he had nothing but great things to say about his work ethic. Like Joe, you can sense his drive for scouting right off the bat and he has spent his entire career working for an opportunity like this. We are very pleased to have him join us."
While Donahoe has played a key role as the Eagles' senior director of player personnel in the last few months, the former Steelers general manager is returning to his previous position as senior football advisor with the Eagles.
Alec Halaby has been named vice president of football operations and strategy. Since 2012, Halaby had been the Eagles' special assistant to the general manager, which was a curious title, because the Eagles haven't had anyone go by the title "general manager" in two years.
Meanwhile, Anthony Patch is now senior director of scouting; Trey Brown director of college scouting; Mike Bradway assistant director of college scouting; and Rick Mueller player personnel executive.
