Detroit Lions lose director of college scouting Dave Sears to Arizona Cardinals
Around three months before the 2023 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions are losing director of college scouting Dave Sears to the Arizona Cardinals.
It’s now the relative home stretch before the 2023 NFL Draft, around three months out. The Detroit Lions will be replacing a key member of their war room.
As first reported by Justin Rogers of The Detroit News on Saturday morning, Lions director of college scouting Dave Sears is leaving to become assistant general manager for the Arizona Cardinals.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport followed with his report of Sears being hired by the Cardinals, with mention of Sears being chosen over a couple in-house candidates who interviewed for the general manager job.
The #AZCardinals are hiring #Lions director of college scouting Dave Sears as the assistant general manager under new GM Monti Ossenfort, sources say. A bit of a surprise, given two strong in-house candidates who interviewed for the GM job — Adrian Wilson and Quentin Harris.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 21, 2023
Sears came to the Lions in 2007 as a regional scout, just completing his 16th season in the organization. He was promoted to assistant director of college scouting in 2017, and became director of college scouting in 2019.
Before coming to Detroit, Sears spent seven seasons with the Houston Texans (2000-2006). In Houston he overlapped with new Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort for three years, when both were college scouts.
Detroit Lions losing a key piece of their draft process
Sears of course had an integral role in the Lions’ draft process, as the head of the college scouting department and a key voice in bringing area scouts’ evaluations to general manager Brad Holmes. Last April, via Pride of Detroit, Holmes talked about Sears’ advocating for sixth-round pick James Houston.
"Dave Sears, our college director, he had a lot of passion about his evaluation and what he thought his (Houston’s) potential could be,"
After biding his time and honing his craft on the practice squad, Houston paid off that potential with eight sacks in seven games during his rookie season.
As for who may replace Sears, Rogers pointed to current assistant director of college scouting Brian Hudspeth. He just finished his first season in that role, and he has been with the Lions since 2018 when he came aboard as a national scout. He has worked in the NFL since 2001, with prior stops in Atlanta, Houston and Tampa Bay.
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