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ALAMEDA — The Raiders have hired DuJuan Daniels, who earned three Super Bowl rings with the New England Patriots as a scout, to be a senior executive in the personnel department.
Daniels started with the Patriots in 2006 as an intern and quickly moved up the ladder to area scout, regional scout and finally national scout. He was the only person in the Patriots scouting department to hold that designation last season.
It is the third major hire by general manager Mike Mayock and coach Jon Gruden as the Raiders reorganize the scouting department. Jim Abrams, who worked with the Dallas Cowobys and with Gruden in Tampa Bay, came aboard last week as a director of college scouting and Dwayne Joseph left the Philadelphia Eagles to become director of pro scouting.
Coming along with Abrams is Walter Juliff, who has worked been both a college and pro scout with the Dallas Cowboys for 30 years. In addition, Trey Scott, who worked in the Raiders player personnel department, has been retained and promoted. Veteran scout Zack Crockett will return as well.
It’s common among new general managers to hire scouts they’re familiar with, much like former G.M. Reggie McKenzie did in following his first Raiders draft in 2012.
The Daniels hire was first reported by ESPN and confirmed by the Bay Area News Group.
Mayock confirmed during the draft the Raiders had sent some some scouts home once it came time to set the draft board for the final time and that there would be changes within the department.
Besides the in-season departure of McKenzie, the Raiders have parted ways with director of player personnel Joey Clinkscales as well as director of college scouting Shaun Herock. Area scouts Raleigh McKenzie and David McCloughan also will not return, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported.
Daniels reportedly informed the Patriots last week he would be exploring other opportunities.
Like Mayock, Daniels went to Boston College and the two have known each other in personnel circles.
Named “Mr. Football” by the Indianapolis Star in 1997, Daniels rushed for 2,509 yards and 42 touchdowns as a senior at Bishop Chatard in Indianapolis. He never played a full season as a player and sustained a knee injury against Notre Dame in 2000.
In a 2015 story in the Indianapolis Tribune, Daniels spelled out his career goals.
“My ultimate goal is to be a G.M. I would never want to work with guys that don’t want to be general managers,” Daniels said. “I wouldn’t want to work with a coach that doesn’t want to be a head coach. And that’s my goal — be a G.M.”
Moving from a scouting position to ostensibly being Mayock’s right-hand man gets Daniels one step closer to that goal.
Abrams spent the last seven seasons as a West Coast scout for Dallas and his seven seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers overlapped with Gruden’s tenure as head coach.
Joseph was the Eagles director of pro personnel from 2015 and 2019, winning a Super Bowl ring following the 2017 season. He played for the Chicago Bears from 1994 to 1996 then joined the organization as a scout. He worked for either the Bears or Miami Dolphins up until 2015 and served as an assistant director of both college and pro scouting with the Bears.
