In what might end up being a de facto trade the Eagles lost Andy Weidl to the Pittsburgh Steelers and now will be bringing in long-time Steelers scout Brandon Hunt to a high-ranking personnel position, an NFL source confirmed to JAKIB Sports.
Geoff Mosher of the Inside the Birds Podcast was the first to report Brown heading to Philadelphia.
Hunt, like Weidl, was a finalist for the Steelers’ GM job that went to Omar Khan.
Weidl was subsequently hird by Pittsburgh as the assistant GM and the head of scouting with the Steelers seemingly taking on a two-pronged approach in the wake of Kevin Colbert’s retirement with Khan, who has more of a business background, working hand in hand with Weidl, a Pittsburgh-area native who has been the Eagles’ vice president of player personnel. Khan, however, will have the final say.
The Eagles, meanwhile, have had their eyes on Hunt since 2016 when he first interviewed with the franchise for positions that went to now-New York Jets GM Joe Douglas and Weidl.
Hunt’s title with the Eagles is to be determined as the organization mulls the best way to handle things in the wake of losing five high-profile scouting execs since January: Weidl, Ian Cunningham, Brandon Brown, Catherine Raiche, and Tom Donahoe.
Like Weidl, Cunningham (Chicago Bears), Brown (New York Giants), and Raiche (Cleveland Browns) got assistant GM jobs.
Cunningham and Brown were co-directors of player personnel in Philadelphia while Raiche was the VP of football operations. Donahoe, a former NFL GM with Buffalo, was a senior football advisor with the Eagles until his contract ran out earlier this month.
Hunt, who had been the Steelers’ pro scouting coordinator since 2010, could be in line to run the scouting department with the Eagles. He and Colts director of scouting Morocco Brown were interviewed by Howie Roseman for what was described as a significant position on the scouting side and the latter decided to stay in Indianapolis.
Hunt also for interviews for the GM job in Las Vegas, which went to Dave Ziegler, and the assistant GM job in Buffalo.
–John McMullen covers the Eagles and the NFL for JAKIB Sports.
