Scot McCloughan, a highly respected scout who spent four years helping to build the Seattle Seahawks into a Super Bowl champion, has been negotiating with the Washington Redskins to become the team’s next general manager, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.
McCloughan, 43, who stepped down from his role as a senior personnel executive for the Seahawks last April, served as an outside consultant for a handful of teams this past season. According to ESPN 980, the team-owned radio station, McCloughan met with the Redskins for several hours on Tuesday.
If McCloughan is hired, he would replace Bruce Allen, who has held that role for the past five seasons; Allen would remain with the organization as the president, a title he added during the spring, that person said. By hiring McCloughan, the Redskins would be adding an experienced talent evaluator in their highest personnel role for the first time since Dan Snyder purchased the team in 1999.
Allen said last week, during an end-of-season press conference, that the Redskins were in the process of evaluating every facet of the organization and vowed that changes would be made. The Redskins finished 4-12, last in the NFC East for the fourth time in five seasons under Allen’s watch.
“We owe it to the fans to look into any possible addition to this staff at any role in this organization, and that’s what we’re doing,” Allen said. “We’re evaluating everybody’s job, everybody’s role, and if we can add people to the Washington Redskins who are going to help us win, we are absolutely going to do that.”
McCloughan, whose father, Kent, was a longtime scout for the now-Oakland Raiders, began scouting players in 1994 when he was just 23 years old. He was hired by the San Francisco 49ers in 2005 as their vice president of player personnel, then was promoted to general manager in 2008.
A leave of absence linked to alcohol abuse led to McCloughan’s departure from the 49ers after just two seasons, according to a profile in the Jan. 5 issue of ESPN The Magazine, and he landed in Seattle, where he reunited with John Schneider, the Seahawks’ general manager and a longtime friend. That stay lasted four years, with McCloughan resigning shortly before the draft last April because of similar issues, the magazine reported.
According to NFL Network, which was one of several outlets to report the move Tuesday afternoon, McCloughan has also been receiving interest to serve in an unspecified role for the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets.
Michael Robinson, who hosts a weekly radio show on Fox Sports 910 in Richmond, was a fullback for the 49ers from 2006 through 2009 and then joined the Seahawks in 2010 with McCloughan.
Robinson said McCloughan is “a really good friend,” and he wrote on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon that McCloughan would be introduced as the Redskins’ new general manager by the end of the week.
“One thing about Scotty, what he understands — not only talent, OK, that’s easy — but he understands how to build a quality locker room,” Robinson said Tuesday morning on his radio show. “He’s not just looking for your attributes on the field. He’s looking for, ’How can I infuse you into this locker room to make this a place where it’s conducive to winning?’
“He’s really a bright guy. He looks at talent a whole different way — unlike anything I’ve ever seen in this business. He’s exactly what the Redskins need.”
Washington finished 4-12 this past season under first-year head coach Jay Gruden, marking the fourth time in five seasons Allen served as the general manager that it finished in last place in the NFC East.
• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.