The Chicago Bears haven’t experienced a significant shakeup in their scouting department for the past couple of years. General manager Ryan Poles has maintained stability in that regard, fostering a tight-knit, insular culture. However, things have taken a turn this offseason. It started with assistant general manager Ian Cunningham departing to take over as the Atlanta Falcons’ new GM. This was always something the Bears had expected to happen sooner or later, so it wasn’t a huge surprise.
What might’ve been was the news that Keith Earle, one of their key area scouts, is also departing the team, according to Neil Stratton of Inside The League. Initial expectations are that he plans to join Cunningham in Atlanta.
It isn’t a huge surprise that Earle would do this. He was a player personnel intern for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021, when Cunningham was the team’s top personnel director. The former assistant GM was likely the one who lured him to Chicago, where he quickly went from scouting assistant to area scout in just two years.
The Chicago Bears suddenly have a vital spot to fill.
Most people likely haven’t heard about the Midlands region in football scouting. That is because some teams don’t use it. You usually get the classics like the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and West Coast. Yet because the country is so vast, teams sometimes decide to divide things further. The Midlands typically constitutes an area of land encompassing Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. In case you somehow don’t follow college football, that is one of the most talent-rich regions in the sport.
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Earle had been in charge of that area for two years. In that time, the Bears seemed to trust his judgment on several draft picks. They took Shemar Turner (Texas A&M) and Zah Frazier (Texas-San Antonio) in the 2nd and 5th rounds last year. Last week, they took Zavion Thomas (LSU) and Malik Muhammad (Texas) in the 3rd and 4th rounds. If that weren’t enough, they also nabbed Jahdae Walker (Texas A&M) as an undrafted free agent from there. The Bears leaned heavily on Earle’s work in shaping their two most recent classes.
How they replace him will be interesting.
Typically, Poles has preferred to promote from within whenever the Bears lose somebody in the scouting department. We saw that when he elevated Jeff King to assistant GM after Cunningham’s departure. It stands to reason that it will be the case here. First guess is that Chicago could promote Nick Papagno into Earle’s role. Papagno came over from the Las Vegas Raiders the same year as Earle did in 2024, taking over as the team’s NFS scout. This is a role given to people who work the NFL Scouting Combine every year, assessing the incoming college senior class and weeding out players who don’t belong on the draft board.
The question is, do they trust him with such an important region like the Midlands, given his lack of experience? If not, it is possible we see some shuffling in the scouting department. The Chicago Bears could shift one of their more established evaluators to the Midlands and slot Papagno into their old spot. Barring all of that, they could also go hunting for some outside talent. Other scouting departments have experienced shakeups recently. There could be a few intriguing names worth adding to the mix.
