Chicago Bears Fill Front Office Vacancies
Feb 18, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace speaks at a press conference during the 2015 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Chicago Bears GM Ryan Pace has been busy shuffling his front office this offseason. The Bears announced three personnel moves to re-shape their front office and scouting department – hiring former Joe Douglas as Director of College Scouting, Champ Kelly as Director of Pro Scouting and Christopher Prescott as an area scout. These moves in addition to the addition of former Saints front office man Josh Lucas as Director of Player Personnel. Let’s get to know the newest Bears front office guys:
Joe Douglas – Director of College Scouting
The Bears and many other teams have been trying to pry assistant GM Eric DeCosta out of Baltimore for the last few years, but Ozzie Newsome’s successor has stood pat waiting for his change to run the Ravens. Who better to pluck from the Ravens than 15 year veteran scout Joe Douglas.
Douglas has been with the Ravens organization since 2000, serving as an area scout in the Northeast (’03 – ’07), East Coast (’08), and Southeast (’09 – ’11) before getting promoted to the Ravens national scout (’12 – ’15). Douglas played a significant role in drafting such players as QB Joe Flacco, G Ben Grubbs, current Bears LB Pernell McPhee, LB C.J. Mosley, CB Lardarius Webb and G Marshal Yanda.
Douglas effectively replaces Marty Barrett, who was let go earlier this month following the draft. A fun fact on Douglas – he was the center in the Keanu Reeves movie The Replacements.
Champ Kelly – Director of Pro Scouting
Pace was able to pull Anthony “Champ” Kelly away from the Denver Broncos where he spent the last two of his eight years as their Assistant Director of Pro Personnel. In that role, Kelly assisted in the evaluation and acquisition of free agents and trades as well as advanced scouting.
During his time with the Broncos, Kelly had a hand in the acquisitions of players like Peyton Manning, Terrance Knighton, Willis McGahee, Emmanuel Sanders, Aquib Talib, TJ Ward Demarcus Ware and Wes Welker.
Kelly joined the Broncos coming out of the indoor football league where he served as GM and wide receivers coach for the Lexington Horsemen. The Horsemen advanced to the United Bowl in 2007 under Kelly’s leadership.
Kelly replaces Associate Director of Pro Personnel Dwayne Joseph, who left the Bears last week to join the Eagles.
The Bears also announced hiring former Jets scout Christopher Prescott as an area scout. Prescott spent over two years with the Jets covering the Southern and Mid-Atlantic areas. Before his time in New York, Prescott had been with the Jacksonville Jaguars for 11 years in their scouting department. Prescott also has experience scouting baseball and hockey.
In making these moves, it’s clear that Ryan Pace is intent on changing the culture at Halas Hall and shaping the front office in his image. When the Bears hired Phil Emery, he had previous ties to the team as a former scout, so maybe he felt obliged to keep some of the former scouts and staffers, with whom I’m sure he had relationships. Pace has no such ties and it’s clear that with these hires along with the hiring of former Saints colleague Josh Lucas, he’s re-loading the Bears front office to build a scouting department for sustainable success through the draft.