NFC Front Office Moves: Bucs, Bears, Cards, Saints, Commanders

The Buccaneers made a number of promotions in their front office this week, per a team announcement, including a title bump for former linebacker and longtime executive Shelton Quarles.

Quarles, 54, played in Tampa Bay from 1997 to 2006 with a Pro Bowl campaign as part of the Bucs’ 2002 Super Bowl run. He was released after a failed physical in 2007 and moved to the front office. He rose through the pro scouting department and was named director in 2012 with a promotion to director of football operations in 2014. He remained in that role for a decade and added ‘senior’ to his title last year. This latest promotion makes Quarles the vice president of the team’s football operations department.

Andy Speyer is entering his 14th season as a national scout with the Buccaneers, and he will now do so with ‘senior’ affixed to the start of his title. He came up in the Eagles’ organization, starting as a pro personnel intern in 2002 and spending the following 11 years in various scouting roles. In Tampa Bay, he has focused on prospects west of the Mississippi River; among his hits in recent draft classes are offensive linemen Cody Mauch, tight end Cade Otton, running back Bucky Irving, and cornerback Zyon McCollum This year, the Bucs drafted Arizona State wide receiver Ted Hurst, Missouri linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, and LSU tight end Bauer Sharp out of Speyer’s region.

The Buccaneers have also promoted Adam Pinkoski from assistant director of performance science to director of data science and innovation. He arrived in Tampa Bay in 2023 to help build the sports science department and will now expand his analytics work beyond player health and performance into football operations. The team is also promoting Peighton Roth, who started as a team operations intern in 2021 and earned a full-time scouting coordinator job the following year. She will now serve as the manager of football administration and scouting operations.

• The Bears promoted Nick Papagno from NFS scout to Midlands area scout, per his LinkedIn. Prior to his arrival in Chicago, he spent three years in the Raiders’ front office.
• The Cardinals promoted Tyler Haskins from scouting assistant to pro scout, per InsideTheLeague’s Neil Stratton. Haskins’ previous role will be filled by former Alabama recruiting specialist Colton Hill, Stratton adds.
• The Saints scouting department has grown by two. Kai Saunders and Will Whisenhunt, another ex-Alabama recruiter, have come aboard as assistants (via Stratton)
• The Commanders are retaining 2025 Nunn-Wooten fellow and former Saints linebacker Andrew Dowell as a full-time scouting assistant, per ESPN’s John Keim. Joining the team in similar roles are John Waters, who was most recently the director of scouting at the University of New Mexico, and Keenan Guthrie, a former University of Northern Colorado linebacker.