I don’t think being a former player means jack when it comes to talent evaluation. I don’t care if he’s never played at any level. It’s not necessary experience for the job. Do I like to see scouting experience? Sure, but it’s not like he has no talent evaluation experience. He’s played that role with the 49ers and Browns for 8 or 9 years.
Personally, I like less indoctrinated perspective and often that only comes from outside the group think. When it comes to football, it’s not like there’s some extra special knowledge that can only be gained in league before a person can be successful. 3/4 of the people I played Madden against years back, could go through the various NFL defensive concepts and give a presentation on where a player should be etc. They could give you a rundown of their preferred system and the why, at a near expert level. They could do the same on the opposite side of the ball.
There are probably a dozen or more people on this board capable of making draft day calls in a logical and intelligent fashion based on their own personal evaluations. That’s a fact as far as I’m concerned and it makes no difference if they ever played the game.
Why did this guy rise to the top? I think it should be evident in how people talk about his smarts and how he approaches the business. At the end of the day, no matter the person running the show, they will develop a track record and be judged on it. If they can’t cut it, someone else can.