Patriots promote internally for top scouting role

The Patriots have promoted one of their national scouts, Tony Kinkela, to become their director of college scouting, per Albert Breer. The Patriots' former director, Camren Williams, left the team to become the Broncos' co-director of player personnel last month.

Kinkela spent 11 years scouting for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before coming to New England in 2022. The Patriots' scouting department looks very different at the top entering the 2025 season.

Kinkela joins AJ Highsmith as a new, first time director in Foxborough. Highsmith was recently hired as the director of pro scouting - also his first time in a director position.

The Patriots recruitment and operations department is still headed by the same executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf, but the turnover at the top of the scouting departments could point to the changes that have been brought in by Mike Vrabel and new senior vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden.

The Patriots have had underwhelming drafts for going on a decade. It will be interesting to see how the drafting improves with Kinkela now playing a critical role.

Luke Graham is a digital sports content co-op for 98.5 the Sports Hub. He is currently a sophomore at Northeastern University studying communications and media studies. Read all his articles here, and follow him on X @LukeGraham05.