NFC Front Office Updates: Seahawks, Saints, Lions

In their recent announcement disclosing promotions for two staffers to assistant general manager, the Seahawks announced four other promotions in Seattle’s front office. In the player personnel department, Aaron Hineline has been promoted from director of college scouting to director of player personnel, Armani Perez has been promoted from assistant director to director of pro personnel, and former assistant director of college scouting Jason Barnes will move up into Hineline’s old role as director.

Perez started as a scouting intern in Seattle, joining the team in 2019. He was promoted to pro scouting personnel assistant in 2021 before ascending to his most recent position in 2023. He now steps into the director role vacated when his predecessor, Willie Schneider, became one of the two aforementioned staffers elevated to assistant GM.

Hineline first joined the Seahawks in 2006 as an intern. He worked four years in pro personnel before moving over to college scouting. Over the next several years, Hineline worked his way up into an assistant director role in college scouting before getting promoted to director in 2023. Barnes has been with the Seahawks for 20 years, starting in pro scouting then moving to college scouting three years after. 17 seasons in, Barnes has finally reached the director role.

In the analytics department, Patrick Ward has been promoted from director to vice president of research and analytics. Formerly a sports performance researcher with Nike, Ward joined the team in 2014 as a sports science analyst. He was elevated to his most recent role three years later.

Here are a couple other front office updates from around the NFC:

• According to Neil Stratton of SucceedinFootball.com, the Saints have promoted Harry Piper to pro scout. He started in New Orleans as a player personnel assistant five years ago, following a two-year stint as a recruiting assistant at Alabama.
• In Detroit, the Lions have elevated assistant pro scout Blake Ask to pro scout, per Stratton. Ask first started in football operations, serving as assistant director at University of Idaho before taking a staff assistant role with the Dolphins in 2018. He went back to the collegiate ranks as a scouting and recruiting specialist at Washington before interning in operations and equipment for the Buccaneers. He joined the Lions in 2021, working his way from scouting assistant to player personnel assistant after two years, then was elevated to his most recent position in 2024.