The New England Patriots overhauled their front office this offseason, and the Green Bay Packers apparently prevented that overhaul from expanding even further.
The Patriots requested to interview Packers executive Chad Brinker earlier this offseason, but Green Bay blocked the request and promoted Brinker to a new role instead, The MMQB's Albert Breer reported Monday.
A 12-year veteran of the Packers' front office, Brinker spent the previous three seasons as the team's assistant director of pro scouting/salary cap analyst before being promoted to personnel/football administrative executive in late May.
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According to Breer, the Patriots wanted to interview Brinker for a job "helping lead (their) salary-cap operation, as part of new director of player personnel Dave Ziegler’s effort to rework facets of the team’s personnel department."
Teams blocking interview requests isn't uncommon, as the Patriots twice denied the Texans an interview with Nick Caserio before Houston finally hired him as their new general manager in January. Ziegler took over Caserio's director of player personnel role in New England, while the team also brought back Matt Patricia as a "senior football advisor" and promoted Ziegler, Elliot Wolf, Matt Groh and Steve Cargile in front office roles.
Wolf worked with Brinker in Green Bay, so perhaps he put in a good word for the Packers executive, who reached the NFL as an undrafted free-agent running back in 2003.
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"I'd say we're set up a little bit differently than we were when Nick was here," head coach Bill Belichick said back in June. "... We have an opportunity to kind of reorganize some things and so that's what we're going to do."
The Patriots' reorganized front office has been plenty busy this offseason, adding several prominent free agents as the team aims to bounce back from its first losing season since 2000.