Talk about headlines I didn't think I'd be typing this off-season.
But, as it turns out, Minnesota Vikings Director of Player Personnel George Paton is interviewing today for the General Manager position with the St. Louis Rams. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch broke the news via the Twitter this morning.
2011 was Paton's fifth season as the Vikings' Director of Player Personnel. Prior to that, he spent six seasons as the Director of Pro Personnel for the Miami Dolphins, and (presumably) worked with current Vikings' General Manager Rick Spielman.
Oh, and apparently his name is pronounced "Payton" rather than "Patton." So, all my potential jokes about riding with the Third Army in North Africa are write out.
While becoming the General Manager of a National Football League franchise is obviously a step up, it would remain to be seen exactly how much power Paton (or anyone else the Rams would hire) would actually wield. The Rams hired former Tennessee Titans' head coach Jeff Fisher to be their new head coach a couple of weeks ago, and the prevailing logic is that he would have the majority of the power when it comes to personnel decisions and things of that nature.