Chicago Bears raid New Orleans Saints, name Josh Lucas Director of Pro Personnel

New Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace's first move in the front office was to fire incumbent Director of Pro Personnel Kevin Turks.  That position has now been filled by Josh Lucas, who has spent the last 10 years with the New Orleans Saints' personnel department under Pace's tenure.

Lucas - who played safety from 1997-98 at Harvard University, from which he graduated Cum Laude - originally was an intern with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2002 before joining their marketing department, and then their personnel department in 2004.  He became a scouting assistant with the Saints in 2005, evaluating free agents and assisting the team in preparing for the draft.  In 2007 he took on scouting duties in the southwest region, switching to the southern region in 2012.

Filling the same position that his boss held in New Orleans, Lucas will be Pace's right hand man and will oversee both the pro and college scouting departments.  The Times-Picayune speculates that Lucas' hiring means the Saints' most senior executives won't be lured to join Pace at Halas Hall.

You can see what Lucas has to say about scouting for the NFL draft in this video from the Saints' official website, dated last May.

Force of habit: Article pic in hi-res.