49ers Dir of Player Personnel TOM GAMBLE yesterday “accepted a similar position” with the Eagles, who “gave him his first NFL job 25 years ago,” according to Eric Branch of the S.F. CHRONICLE. As Eagles VP/Player Personnel, he will report to GM HOWIE ROSEMAN and “will work in the college and pro personnel departments, as he did with the 49ers.” The timing “isn't ideal for the 49ers” with the NFL Combine next week. But they “probably were braced for Gamble's exit after the well-respected personnel evaluator was reportedly a candidate for general-manager openings with the Jets, Jaguars, Chiefs and Chargers since the end of the regular season.” Gamble was the “director of pro personnel in his first six seasons with San Francisco before being promoted after the 2010 season.” Gamble will “fill the role" of RYAN GRIGSON, who left the Eagles a year ago to become Colts GM (S.F. CHRONICLE, 2/14). ESPN's Chris Mortensen said of Gamble, “This guy brings a wealth of experience and expertise, and I think it’s something that the Eagles badly needed, certainly in that front office” (“NFL 32," ESPN2, 2/13). In Pennsylvania, Bob Grotz writes Gamble is “considered one of the most tenacious, experienced, hands-on talent evaluators in the NFL” (DELAWARE COUNTY TIMES DAILY, 2/14). Gamble’s father, HARRY, was Eagles President from '86-95 after "first joining the franchise as an assistant coach" in '81 (MERCURYNEWS.com, 2/13).
