When Ryan Pace was brought in as Bears general manager, his first hire was head coach John Fox, noteworthy first because of his success, but also for his level of experience. Pace clearly was secure enough to begin building his staff around proven individuals with success at high levels.
That pattern held true with Fox’s assistants, all with experience at the NFL level, something not there in many of Marc Trestman’s initial hires. And the trend is continuing as Pace builds his own staff, beginning with player personnel director Josh Lucas earlier this year and adding Joe Douglas as director of college scouting and Anthony Kelly as pro personnel director on Friday.
[MORE BEARS: John Fox, Vic Fangio not seeing 'disaster' in Bears defense]
Douglas, who was a starting tackle for Richmond, spent 2000-20015 with the Baltimore Ravens, including 2012-15 as the team’s national scout. Prior to being named national scout, Douglas worked as Baltimore’s Southeast area scout (2009-11) while also scouting the East Coast (2008) and Northeast (2003-07). Douglas was involved in the drafting of QB Joe Flacco, G Ben Grubbs, current Bears LB Pernell McPhee, LB C.J. Mosley, CB Lardarius Webb and G Marshal Yanda.
Kelly becomes the latest import from Denver, having spent 2007-15 with the Broncos, including the previous five-plus years (2010-15) as the franchise’s assistant director of pro personnel. Kelly joined the Broncos in 2007 as a Northeast region scout before being promoted to assistant coordinator of pro and college scouting in 2008, a role he held for two seasons.
[NBC SPORTS SHOP: Get the latest Bears gear here]
Additionally, the Bears hired Christopher Prescott as an area scout following his stints with the New York Jets (2013-15) and the Jacksonville Jaguars (2002-12). He started his career in Jacksonville as a scouting assistant (2002-04) before working as a pro scout for three years (2005-07) and a college area scout (2008-12) covering the Northeastern and Southwestern regions.