Landing a Job in Player Personnel with Ellie Perrigo!

Meet Ellie Perrigo.

Ellie started her career at the University of Miami thinking she wanted to be a sideline reporter. Consequently, she majored in broadcast journalism, joined the student-run sports network, and spent two years preparing for a life in the media. Then she stepped in front of the camera and realized something important. She hated it.

Instead of quitting on sports, she pivoted. She changed her major to Communication and Media Studies and began seeking out other career paths in the space.

When ESPN came to Miami for the Super Bowl during her sophomore year, a former classmate who had joined ESPN reached out. They needed a runner, and Ellie, of course, said yes, with no idea what she was getting into. She showed up at the hotel and within an hour was driving talent with a police escort to the Super Bowl. Didn’t bat an eye. After that, ESPN kept calling.

Over the next year she worked Monday Night Football, the Super Bowl in LA, and the NFL Draft in Vegas, running for food, props, call sheets, and last-minute requests. She did whatever was needed, and in doing so built a reputation with talent and staff alike of being reliable, flexible, and willing to go above and beyond. The experience also provided unrivaled networking opportunities, something that would be instrumental in her career journey.

Ellie leveraged her opportunities with ESPN to secure her first NFL opportunity, spending the summer after her junior year as a Training Camp Intern with the Kansas City Chiefs. It was fan-facing, physical work, helping to operate the kids’ zone, blowing up bouncy houses, scanning tickets, and shuttling fans in golf carts. Not the most glamorous of roles, but again, valuable connections, and NFL experience.

After the summer, she returned to school and jumped into a new role as a Facility and Event Operations Intern with Miami Athletics, supporting events for tennis, baseball, swimming, and occasionally basketball. It was behind-the-scenes work that strengthened her communication skills, problem solving, and day-to-day operational awareness.

Following graduation, Ellie returned to the Chiefs for a seasonal role as an Arrowhead Events Assistant. She was hired by the same manager she impressed as a summer intern (importance of staying connected!!) and spent nearly a year working on events and overseeing the same internship program she started in.

This was also the moment when her ESPN connections paid off.

ESPN analyst Louis Riddick reached out after hearing she had joined the Chiefs, offering to connect her with GM Brett Veach. Ellie emailed Veach, followed up by text, and eventually got invited for a meeting. What she expected to be a quick introduction turned into a full conversation with Veach, the assistant GM, and the directors of both college and pro scouting. They asked about her goals and challenged her on her why. Ellie nailed her pitch and walked out with an open invitation to study film with the football staff.

She jumped on the opportunity.

While working full time in events, Ellie began coming in early every morning from 7 to 9 AM to watch film with the scouting department. Those early mornings became the foundation of her scouting education and the clearest proof to the front office that she wanted to be in football operations long term.

Player personnel is the department responsible for building and managing a team’s roster. It is where scouting, evaluation, and roster strategy come together. The work begins with college scouting, where scouts travel to schools, attend practices, watch film, write detailed evaluations, and prepare the team for the draft. On the pro side, the department studies players across the league, tracks free agents and practice squad talent, identifies potential fits for the team, and monitors every roster move happening in real time.

Player personnel are also heavily involved in the draft process, from collegiate all-star games to the draft combine, and eventually finalizing the draft boards. Throughout the year, the group supports decisions on signings, tryouts, practice squad elevations, and releases. The department handles both the exciting parts of roster building and the difficult ones, making it one of the most challenging and impactful areas inside a front office.

With her seasonal role with the events team winding down, Ellie tried to make her first move into the football department full time. When there were no openings, she was forced to pivot and found herself stepping into a role with a different type of football team - the NWSL’s Kansas City Current. For 3 months she served as the teams Player Care Coordinator, a hands-on role that involved supporting players during onboarding, helping them navigate housing, setting up apartments, and serving as the main liaison between players, the GM, ownership, and staff.

Then the Chiefs reached out again. They wanted her to return as a Norma Hunt Player Personnel Fellow during training camp. It was not a full-time role, it paid hourly, and it didn’t come with salary and benefits - the complete opposite of her role with the Current.

But Ellie asked just one question:
“Is there a chance this leads to something full time?”

The answer:
“There is always a chance. No promises.”

She quit her job the next day.

Back at the Chiefs, Ellie handled free agency visits, college visits, all-star prep, practice cards, depth charts, and anything else the department needed. She continued to learn the game, watch film, and deepen her understanding of the job. At the end of training camp, the Chiefs extended her fellowship for the entire 2023-24 season.

After the season had ended and the NFL Draft had passed, she still had not received a full-time offer, and with other teams starting their hiring processes, she began sending her resume and written scouting reports across the league. With the conversations heating up across the league, she finally walked into the college director’s office and put it all on the table, asking directly if they intended to hire her. It took less than an hour to receive the text that Brett Veach had approved her full-time offer.

With that, she officially became the teams Player Personnel Assistant, the only one in the building.

Her job today includes:

Does it get any cooler than that?

Q. You’ve held multiple roles with the Chiefs, from training camp intern to events assistant to a full-time player personnel assistant. What do you think helped you stand out at each stage and earn the trust to keep progressing within the organization?

A. Working hard and being eager to learn while still being willing to do the little things. Whether that was setting up bike rack, blowing up bouncy houses, waking up at 4am for an event, filling up snacks, driving players to physicals, etc. Being able to do those while still working to improve, both in my role and as a professional has gotten me to where I'm at now.

Q. You've built a strong expertise in scouting despite not having played the game. What has gone into learning football at such a high level?

A. I put a lot of pressure on myself, meaning I try to sprint before I crawl, so I think just forcing myself to slow down and being comfortable asking questions knowing that I don't know everything. My intern year and first year in Personnel, I helped draw install play cards for the defensive scout team which forced me to get an understanding of the x's and o's. Our assistant DL coach at the time would quiz me every Monday on different defensive techniques and fronts, and then I would go into our DQC's office at the time and he would quiz me on route concepts and personnel groupings, so I had so many people in my corner helping me along the way. I'm still learning every single day, we all are, but just working at it and putting in the time to get better every day has helped me learn quickly and understand the game at depth.

Q. What would be your advice to someone trying to break into player personnel within the NFL?

A. Work in college football in some capacity at a Power 4 school. Whether in recruiting, academics, coaching, operations, etc. Put yourself in a position where you can build relationships with scouts who come into schools because often times those connections are what lead to internships and ultimately getting hired. If you are struggling to find something in college football, just say yes to any opportunity that excites you and work your way to get to where you want to be. People always say, "right place right time" which is true, but you will find yourself in the right place at the right time if you keep working at it and don't get discouraged by "no". No just means not right now. If you want it bad enough, it will happen.

1. Bet on yourself
You won’t break in without a little risk. Ellie left a full-time job for an hourly fellowship because she believed it would move her closer to her long-term goal. Sometimes the leap is the path.

2. Get in the room
Being an ESPN runner or showing up at 7 AM to watch film were not high-profile roles, but they put Ellie around the right people. Small roles can create big relationships.

3. Keep learning
Ellie has become an expert in football strategy and talent evaluation through years of study, and she is still putting in hours every day to continue that development. In player personnel, you grow by learning the game at a deeper level every day.

Huge thank you for reading through this week’s edition of So You Want to Work in Sports.

If you have any feedback, a guest recommendation, would like to be featured yourself, or have any questions, please email me at [email protected].

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