The New England Patriots have reportedly landed their second external candidate for their top football executive job.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and CBS’ Jonathan Jones, former Carolina Panthers exec Samir Suleiman is heading to Foxborough to interview for New England’s technically vacant GM spot.
He is the second reported external candidate to meet with the Patriots about the job.
Suleiman previously served as the director of player negotiations and salary cap manager for Carolina before being promoted to vice president of football administration.
Suleiman parted ways with the Panthers back in January, a day after the team hired Dan Morgan as the new general manager to replace Scott Fitterer. Suleiman was reportedly among the candidates to interview for Carolina’s GM job.
This marks the second wave of positive news for the Patriots, who hit some early headwinds in the interview process. On Tuesday, the Patriots reportedly brought in director of scouting Brandon Hunt for a similar interview.
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New England recently began seeking outside candidates to interview for its GM role. However, reports began flowing in earlier this week that three candidates declined to interview for the spot.
Those rejections come with a caveat. Multiple sources told MassLive’s Mark Daniels earlier this week that Patriots director of scouting Eliot Wolf is expected come away with the job as an internal hire.
Wolf has been working as New England’s de facto general manager since the departure of Bill Belichick earlier this year. Despite the GM role technically being vacant, Wolf has led the team’s approach through early free agency and acted as the decision-maker during a pivotal NFL Draft.
However, the Patriots are still required to go through a full interview process. The NFL’s Rooney Rule requires New England to bring in at least two external minority candidates in for interviews.
Unlike the head coach position, the Rooney Role applies even if the Patriots have an internal successor in mind. New England was able to circumvent the Rooney Rule when the team installed Jerod Mayo as its new head coach.
