Eagles hire Joe Douglas and officially announce scouting staff changes

The Philadelphia Eagles have officially hired former Chicago Bears executive Joe Douglas, according to an official announcement from the team. Douglas will serve as the Eagles' vice president of player personnel. The Eagles' interest in Douglas was first reported last week.

Douglas joins the Eagles one year after being hired as Chicago's director of college scouting. Prior to joining the Bears, Douglas worked as a scout for the Baltimore Ravens for 15 years. Douglas had experience working under Ozzie Newsome, who is considered to be one of the best general managers in the NFL.

There has been a lot of praise for the Eagles' hire of Douglas. Former NFL scout and current NFL Network personality Daniel Jeremiah, whom the Eagles reportedly interviewed for their personnel job, called Douglas "one of the best talent evaluators [he's] ever been around." One NFL executive called Douglas "a future general manager."

The Eagles initially launched their search for a new player personnel executive back in January but they suspended it after interviewing a few candidates. In the meantime it's been clear that executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman has been running the show. Roseman had a big role in hiring head coach Doug Pederson and trading up in the 2016 NFL Draft to select Carson Wentz. The Eagles' press release says Douglas will report directly to Roseman.

Philadelphia desperately needed to restock their front office staff after a series of departures in recent years. Former vice president of player personnel Tom Gamble was fired in late 2014, which sparked Chip Kelly's push for more personnel control. Kelly and Ed Marynowitz made significant changes to the Eagles' scouting department last offseason, pushing out old members of Roseman's staff. Then Marynowitz was fired along with Kelly before Roseman was reinstalled earlier this year.

The Douglas hire is just one of a few changes the Eagles have made to their scouting staff. Former Ravens scout Andy Weidl has been hired as the team's assistant director of player personnel. He'll serve as the right hand man to Douglas.

Other changes include:

• Alec Halaby being named vice president of football operations and strategy after previously serving as special assistant to the general manager

• Tom Donahoe returning to the position of senior football advisor after serving as senior director of player personnel this offseason

• Anthony Patch being rehired as senior director of college scouting

• Trey Brown moving from assistant director of college scouting to director of college scouting

• Michael Bradway moving from southwest area scout to assistant director of college scouting

• Rick Mueller being rehired as a player personnel executive