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New Bears General Manager: Phil Emery

| January 28th, 2012

The Bears have reached an agreement to name Phil Emery their new GM. The choice, I believe, is a significant decision. Ted Phillips and the McCaskey family have made a decision to entrust their organization to a veteran leader with a terrific reputation in league circles. They had a few young guns to choose from (including DBB endorsed candidate Marc Ross) but they opted for a man who has been around the league a long time and who scouted for the Bears a few years back.

To read Dan Pompei’s column on Emery, complete with quotes from his current boss Scott Pioli, CLICK HERE. Here are a pair of quotes from the piece I particularly liked:

Here’s how former Tribune In the Wake of the News sports columnist Michael Holley described Emery in his book War Room:

“He worked at the Naval Academy for seven years, so he’s not a career military man, although he does sound like one: His voice is clear and commanding. … He’s got an iPad in front of him with his notes as well as reports from the scouts. His recall is impressive. … You get the feeling the iPad isn’t always necessary due to his ability to give historical playbacks from memory.”

And…

If the Bears hire Emery, he will have to be a good learner too. He doesn’t have much experience with the salary cap and contracts, pro personnel or sitting in an office.

“That was the knock on Thomas Dimitroff, Jerry Reese, Ted Thompson, Trent Baalke and a number of guys who have become successful general managers,” Pioli said. “He runs the scouting staff, and that is quite a responsibility.”

The last part is a key to the process. The Bears must make sure Cliff Stein remains in the fold moving forward. His expertise with the cap will be an asset to Emery’s renowned scouting skills.

CLICK HERE to read Phil Emery’s biography on the Kansas City Chiefs website.

My Two Pennies…

I don’t know a damn thing about Phil Emery and I think it’s difficult to judge members of a particular personnel department on the decisions of that department. I mean this in both a positive and negative way. Unless we are situated in the war room or general manager’s office of a respective organization on draft day and beyond we do not know who is responsible for what decision. Emery will now, for the first time, have his own front office. For the first time every decision made by an NFL franchise will bear his stamp. Let us hope his stamp will lead a few Super Bowl titles.