Report: Midwest area scout D.J. Debick leaves Patriots to join Texans

The New England Patriots have lost yet another member of their personnel department. As first pointed out by Neil Stratton and confirmed by his own social media profiles, area scout D.J. Debick has left the organization to take over a position with the Houston Texans.

Debick originally arrived in New England in February 2016. After spending two seasons as a scouting assistant, working with both the college and the pro personnel departments, he was promoted to midwest area scout in May 2018. He served in that capacity for four seasons and by 2022 was the longest-tenured among the Patriots’ area scouts.

Moving forward, however, Debick will be employed by the Texans. According to his LinkedIn profile, he will serve as the team’s assistant director of pro scouting — reuniting with general manager and former Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio. Like Caserio, Debick spent his college career at John Carroll University.

Debick has therefore now become the latest member of the Patriots’ personnel crew to jump ship.

Dave Ziegler — Caserio’s successor and another John Carroll alumnus — left earlier this offseason to become the Las Vegas Raiders’ new GM. Just this month, he poached national scout Brandon Yeargan and made him the organization’s new college scouting director.

While not as high-profile a departure as that of Ziegler or Yeargan, Debick and his contributions still need to be replaced by the Patriots. Pro and college scouting assistant Mitch Sterner appears to be a leading candidate to receive a promotion.

New England reportedly also brought in former Tampa Bay Buccaneers scout Tony Kinkela in a “senior role.” The team additionally hired ex-Notre Dame defender Marquis Dickerson as a scouting assistant.