Let’s get it back to the Eagles.

Today the Birds sent out a media release announcing changes made to the Football Operations department, listing them out in alphabetical order:

  • Phil Bhaya – College Scout, Southeast
  • Brandon Brown – Director of Player Personnel
  • Dave Caldwell – Personnel Executive
  • Ian Cunningham – Director of Player Personnel
  • Matt Holland – College Scout, Northeast
  • Bryce Johnston – Senior Director of Football Transactions 
  • Evan Pritt – Scouting Assistant
  • Catherine Raîche – Vice President of Football Operations
  • Jeff Scott – Senior Pro Scout
  • Ameena Soliman – Pro Scout

Caldwell is a name you might recognize. He was was the Jaguars’ General Manager for a while and he got a blurb in the press release reading like this:

“Dave Caldwell joins the Eagles as a Personnel Executive after an eight-year stint (2013-20) as General Manager for the Jacksonville Jaguars.In his role as a Personnel Executive, Caldwell will contribute to the evaluation of the Eagles team, while also assisting with both the pro and college scouting process.Prior to joining the Jaguars, Caldwell was the Director of Player Personnel (2012) and Director of College Scouting (2008-11) for the Atlanta Falcons. He was also an Area Scout for 10 years in Indianapolis (1998-2007) after entering the league as a Scouting Assistant for the Carolina Panthers (1996-97). Caldwell graduated with a bachelor’s degree in finance/business administration in 1996 from John Carroll University, where he was a two-year letterman at outside linebacker.”

One of the Directors of Player Personnel, Ian Cunningham, is a promotion. He spent the last two years as Assistant Director of Player Personnel and originally joined the Birds in 2017 as a college scouting director. His new gig sees him run the college scouting side while also doing some “crossover work on the pro scouting side” with Brandon Brown. Brown was most recently the Eagles’ Director of Pro Scouting and his new title is also described as a promotion.

The other interesting name on the list is Catherine Raiche, who joined the Eagles in 2019. Her promotion is actually a milestone for women in football:

Pretty cool. In addition to Raiche and Soliman, the following women also work in the Football Ops department:

  • Katie David – Football Operations Director
  • Meghan O’Donnell – Analyst
  • Kathy Mair – Player Resource Coordinator
  • Paige Schuck – Player Personnel Executive Assistant

A fifth woman, Namita Nandakumar, was a Quantitative Analyst who recently took on a senior version of that job with the new Seattle Kraken hockey team. There are also three women who make up the Eagles’ eight-person Executive Administration.