The departure of Dave Ziegler left a vacancy in the Patriots’ front office. On Tuesday, they filled it with an internal promotion, naming Matt Groh their new director of player personnel (Twitter link via Ian Rapoport of NFL Network).
Groh has spent the last 11 years with New England. After a decade in the team’s scouting department, he served as their college scouting director in 2021. The son of former coach Al (who formerly worked with Bill Belichick), and the brother of recently-named Giants wide receivers coach Mike, he is continuing to climb the ladder in New England.
As Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated tweets, Groh played a large role in reshaping the scouting department in New England last season. With Ziegler out of the picture, Groh will no doubt take on an even larger role in overseeing the department he has so much experience in. Being able to do so would be helpful for the Patriots, as their recent drop off to the middle of the pack in the league has coincided with some less successful drafts than the team is accustomed to.
While there will be an inevitable change of some sort on the coaching staff following offensive coordinator Josh McDaniel’s departure, the Patriots will at least have a good deal of continuity in the front office.
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