Redskins fire Director of Player Personnel Alex Santos, Richard Mann II

The Washington Redskins have fired Director of Player Personnel Alex Santos and Assistant Director of Pro Personnel Richard Mann II.

This offseason, the Washington Redskins have completely overhauled their organization. Bruce Allen is gone. Jay Gruden is gone. And soon, the Redskins name may be gone.

On Sunday, the team continued to make changes to their team in the form of some front office departures. Director of Player Personnel Alex Santos and Assistant Director of Pro Personnel Richard Mann II were fired by the team opening up some spots in the pro personnel department.

Ben Standig and Rhiannon Walker of The Athletic first broke the news in a story that they shared on Twitter.

This seems like a strange time to make this decision given that the team had all offseason to make the move. And given that training camp is right around the corner, the activities of pro personnel staff would be starting to ramp up at this point.

That said, the Redskins haven’t exactly been sharp in free agency over the course of the tenures of Santos and Mann. So, perhaps the team just thought it was time for a change.

Santos was a member of the Redskins front office for 13 years. His duties were described as such by the team’s official website.

"[Santos] is responsible for coordinating the advance scouting of Redskins opponents and the evaluation of all professional leagues for potential free agents and trade prospects. He also contributes to the team’s draft preparation, making school visits to help evaluate top college talent."

As for Mann, he was with the team for nine years and primarily focused on scouting all leagues for NFL-level talent.

"Mann served as a pro scout in his first seven seasons with the Redskins. In addition to weekly advance scouting of Redskins opponents in that time frame, he was responsible for assisting in the evaluation and writing of player reports on potential talent in NFL free agency, the Canadian Football League and the Arena Football League."

It’s notable that both Santos and Mann were long-time members of the Redskins front office. In the past, the team hasn’t been very quick to make changes in that capacity. But with Ron Rivera in the fold, Dan Snyder seems to be trusting his lead. And that should bode well for the Redskins.

The team is going to have to move quickly to find replacements for Santos and Mann. With the season rapidly approaching, the team will need to bring in some talented scouts to run this part of the team. Otherwise, Rivera and Kyle Smith will continue to be stretched too thin.

Standig mentioned one intriguing possibility. The Carolina Panthers didn’t renew contracts for two of their pro scouts, and one of them is Don Warren.

Warren is tied to both the Redskins and Rivera. He spent 14 years in the NFL as a tight end for the Redskins and helped the team to win three Super Bowls. Warren began his scouting career with the Redskins in 2005 before moving to the Panthers in 2010. He worked as a part of the Panthers’ front office for the entire Ron Rivera era.

Warren would be a logical target for the team. It will be interesting to see if they pursue him or if the team has another alternative in mind. Either way, they’ll need to move fast to replace Santos and Mann with the start of training camp (tentatively) just 16 days away.