Bengals Player Personnel Department: Myth or Reality?

Following the 2007 season, Bengals fans were searching for a reason to explain why such a talented team stumbled to a 7-9 finish. One reason du jour was the Bengals scouting department. Much of the criticism has faded as fans ire has turned to Chris Henry’s appearances at the Hamilton County Justice Center and Chad Johnson spending his offseason imitating T.O. on Cold Pizza. Here at WhoDeyRevolution, we do not forget so easily. In fact, the second tenant of the WhoDeyRevolution Manifesto is “THAT Mike Brown will hire a general manager, drastically expand the scouting department and relinquish all control of player personnel;”

Over the next few days, I will look into the size and structure of the Bengals player personnel/scouting department and compare it to other NFL teams. Then I will examine Mike Brown’s claim that his staff is more “efficient” than other teams, and attempt to show how a drastically expanded scouting and player personnel department will yield immediate and long term gains for the organization. Finally, I will offer a modest proposal on some simple steps to improve the front office and most importantly (to Mike Brown) how to pay for it.

First up, how small is the Bengals scouting department? Be prepared, and remember according to Forbes, the Cincinnati Bengals are worth $825 million and generated almost a $21 million dollar profit on revenue of $175 million. I know there are many issues with those Forbes numbers, but I am just using it to give some scale to the organization.

If you can handle it, look here to see the Bengals entire player personnel department,

The short answer is, small. Very very small. According to Bengals.com, the Bengals Player Personnel Department totals nine people. One is a secretary, I mean Administrative Assistant (Debbie LaRocco), and another is former OSU Football Coach John Cooper, who the Bengals themselves don’t consider a full time scout. They say they use him as a consultant to tap into the “vast network of college coaches.” That leaves seven full time executives and scouts in the player personnel department.

Of course, the Department is headed by two members of the Brown Family (Pete, VP of Player Personnel and Paul, Director of Football Operations). Call me crazy, but I think Pete and Paul Brown got their current jobs by who their father is, and not based on some fantastic experience of managing the player personnel department of another NFL franchise.

That leaves five men to run the entire department; Jim Lippincott, Director of Football Operations; Duke Tobin, Director of Player Personnel; Greg Seamon, Scout; and Bill Tobin and Earl Biederman, Scouting Consultants.

Let’s compare that to a successful NFL Franchise, the Indianapolis Colts.

The Indianapolis Colts: Football Operations

Source: Colts.com

Chris Polian, VP of Football Operations

Steve Champlin, Director of Football Administration

Tom Telesco, Director of Player Personnel

Dom Anile, Sr. Consultant to Player Personnel

Cylde Powers, Director of Pro Player Personnel

David Caldwell, Western Regional Scout

Todd Vasvari, Eastern Regional Scout

Bob Ferguson, Special Asst. to the Dir. of Player Personnel

John Becker, Area Scout

Ryan Cavanaugh, Area Scout

Mark Ellenz, Area Scout

Bob Guarini, Area Scout

Byron Lusby, Area Scout

Matt Terpening, Area Scout

Kevin Rogers, Pro Scout

J. W. Jordan, Salary Cap/Personnel Analyst

Stefani Paul, Player Development Administrator

Jamie Moore, Scouting Assistant

Jon Shaw, Scouting Assistant

Debbie Finn, Asst. to the Director of Player Personnel

Good God, where do I start? Well first the similarities; the Colts Player Personnel Department is led by the son of the GM, Chris Polian. Unfortunately, the father in this case, Colts GM Bill Polian, was actually hired to be the GM and did not inherit his title from his father. It also looks like the Colts divide their scouting department between College and Pro Personnel, which seems to make sense, and they have 5 executives and 12 scouts, plus a Salary Cap/Personnel Analyst. Maybe Katie Blackburn can give J.W. Jordan a call and ask him to explain the salary cap ramifications if we trade Chad Johnson.

In fact the Colts have more “Area Scouts,” 6, than Bengals have members of the Player Personnel Department not related to Mike Brown.  Guess what else the Colts have that the Bengals lack? If you said a playoff win in the last 17 years and a Lombardi trophy, you would be correct. That should be the goal, and on first glace, it looks like the Colts have an organization that wants and expects to compete for championships, while the Bengals do not.

There is more to this story so stay tuned as we delve deeper into this issue.

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