The New England Patriots are at risk of losing another top front-office executive this offseason.
Patriots assistant director of player personnel Dave Ziegler will interview for the Denver Broncos' general manager vacancy Saturday, a source told Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer. Former Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio was hired away by the Texans this week and was officially named Houston's new general manager Thursday morning.
John Elway stepped down as the Broncos' general manager but will remain the team's president of football operations.
If Ziegler stays in New England, he's a top candidate to be promoted into Caserio's old job right below Patriots head coach Bill Belichick in the front-office chain of command. Hestarted his NFL career in the Broncos' scouting department in 2010. Like Caserio and Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, Ziegler played football at John Carroll University in Ohio.
Ziegler has competition for the Broncos' opening with Denver also reportedly set to interview their own director of college scouting Brian Stark, New Orleans Saints assistant general manager Terry Fontenot, Minnesota Vikings assistant general manager George Paton, San Francisco 49ers vice president of player personnel Adam Peters, and Chicago Bears assistant director of player personnel Champ Kelly.
The Patriots have lost top scouts Monti Ossenfort (Tennessee Titans), James Lipfert (Texans), DuJuan Daniels (Las Vegas Raiders) and Pat Stewart (Carolina Panthers, via Philadelphia Eagles) in recent offseasons. Patriots national scouts Matt Groh and Brandon Yeargan, pro scouts Steve Cargile and Ronnie McGill and scouting consultant Eliot Wolf could earn promotions this offseason. Several former Patriots front-office executives also are currently out of work, including Bob Quinn, Thomas Dimitroff and Steve Pioli.
