Earlier this year, the Houston Texans tried to lure two members of the New England Patriots staff away to fill their vacant general manager spot: The team, which employs former Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien as its head coach, attempted to hire either New England's director of player personnel Nick Caserio or the team's director of college scouting Monti Ossenfort.
Neither left the team but the Texans have now found somebody else on the Patriots' staff to successfully poach: National scout James Liipfert, according to a report by the Houston Chronicle's Aaron Wilson, will become the Texans's new director of college scouting. Liipfert fills the void created when Houston dismissed its previous college scouting director Jon Carr shortly after the draft had concluded.
Liipfert has been with the Patriots since 2009. After playing four years as a core special teamer and rotational linebacker at Georgia Tech, Liipfert went into scouting and moved to New England. He started his career as a scouting assistant before being elevated to regional scout in 2010. Since 2015, the 32-year old held his current position as a national scout for the Patriots.