Patriots Hire New Pro Scouting Department Head

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — With the 2025 NFL season becoming visible on the horizon, the New England Patriots not only continue to overhaul their roster, but also their front office. 

The Patriots, on Wednesday, reportedly agreed to hire A.J. Highsmith as their new director of pro scouting. Highsmith will assume the role vacated by former director Patrick Stewart — who left the organization in February to become the University of Nebraska’s new general manager.

Highsmith most-recently served as director of scouting for the Tennessee Titans. However, he was relieved of his duties shortly after the conclusion of the 2025 NFL Draft. Having begun his football journey as both a quarterback and defensive back at the University of Miami, Highsmith shifted his focus from the gridiron to the front office in 2014 as an assistant in scouting with the San Francisco 49ers. He was promoted in 2016 to pro personnel scout, a role in which he served as a pro scout, evaluated rosters and organized player tryouts and visits.

Highsmith joined the Buffalo Bills in 2019 — where he spent four seasons seasons as an area college scout and one as a national scout. Hired by the Titans in 2024, he was relieved from his position shortly after the 2025 NFL Draft, a purported casualty of Tennessee’s new front office regime — headlined by new general manager Mike Borgonzi.

In addition to head coach Mike Vrabel and executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf, Highsmith will join a revamped Patriots front office consisting of vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden, director of football administration John Streicher, director of player personnel Matt Groh, assistant director of pro personnel Sam Fioroni, and director of football strategy Marshall Oium. His father, Alonzo Highsmith, joined the Patriots in 2023 as a senior personnel executive.

New England is expected to make additional personnel moves in the coming weeks as they look to fill out their scouting department under Vrabel’s new regime.