NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Indications are the Titans have completed their biggest scouting department alterations in years, growing the department more than overhauling it.
They've added AJ Highsmith as director of scouting, award-winning scout Sam Summerville as a national college scout and Keenan Agnew replaced one of the team's scouting assistants. The Titans let go of college scout Tom Roth, moving pro scout Brandon Taylor back to college scout to cover Roth's Southeast territory. The Lions hired Roth.
Neil Stratton was first to report those moves.
It's unclear where Highsmith sits in the flow chart, as Jon Salge, director of college scouting, and Brian Gardner, director of pro scouting, remain. But it seems the Titans saw an opportunity to add young talent in Highsmith, who worked with Ran Carthon in San Francisco and found a way to do so.
The top of Ran Carthon's department now looks like this.
- Assistant general manager Anthony Robinson
- Director of scouting AJ Highsmith
- Director of college scouting Jon Salge
- Director of pro scouting Brian Gardner
The Titans look to have added talent and reinforced their staff. Hopefully, we'll soon learn more about Highsmith's role and where he fits. They certainly don't want people with similar titles stepping on each other's toes.
For comparison, I looked at the top of scouting of two of the more successful organizations.
The Eagles have:
- Two assistant GMs
- Two senior personnel directors/ advisors to the GM
- A senior director of college scouting
- A director of scouting
- Two directors of player personnel
- A director of college scouting
- A director of pro scouting
- A director of personnel operations/pro scout
The 49ers have:
- A vice president and senior advisor to the GM
- A football personnel advisor
- Two directors of player personnel
Philadelphia seems incredibly overloaded but Howie Roseman is very highly regarded. Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch have had great success with a more compact department. It can work in different ways.
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