Browns Add Kathleen Wood, Riley Hecklinski To Scouting Department

As first reported by Eric Edholm of Yahoo! Sports, the Cleveland Browns have added Kathleen Wood to their scouting department as a full-time scout. Mary Kay Cabot followed up reporting the Browns also added Riley Hecklinski as a full-time scouting assistant.

As first reported by Eric Edholm of Yahoo! Sports, the Cleveland Browns have hired Kathleen Wood, adding to their scouting department.

The Browns have been ambitious in terms of adding a significant amount of diversity to their coaching staff as well as the scouting department, one of their stated goals. The youngest general manager in the league and one of only two Black general managers, Andrew Berry, has added a female scout to this staff. Per Edholm's report, the move occurred earlier in June.

The Browns had also hired Callie Brownson to their coaching staff to operate as Kevin Stefanski's chief of staff.

Wood spent 16 years as a private investigator before transitioning to football where she's been the past five years including interning opportunities for both the Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles.

Most recently, Wood worked for Jim Nagy, evaluating players in the southeast for the game, which includes the most relevant territory for the Senior Bowl when it comes to selling tickets as the game is in Mobile, Alabama.

Wood used her skills as a private investigator to evaluate player backgrounds and character for the Senior Bowl, which is almost certainly something the Browns could have her help with in terms of their scouting process. So much of the evaluation comes down to getting it right in terms of the person they are adding, not only digging into what they've done, but who they are.

The Browns have had players that checked all the boxes in terms of data as well as on the field that failed because they did not properly vet the player and their character or lack thereof prevented them from reaching their potential.

Additionally, the hire of Wood is interesting because it would be the second hire this month where someone is bringing a skill set from the private sector into football. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, the new Browns VP of Football Operations, spent time as a Wall Street commodities trader, bringing his knowledge of data to the Browns.

Mensah most recently worked for the San Francisco 49ers, which was the first team to hire a full-time female scout in Salli Clavelle.

Mary Kay Cabot followed up with the news the Browns added Riley Hecklinski to their scouting department as a full-time scouting assistant.

In addition to hiring Kathleen Wood as a scouting fellow last month, the #Browns also have a full-time female scouting assistant on the staff in Riley Hecklinski

— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) June 20, 2020

Hecklinski attended Indiana State University and played softball. She gave an interview in March about her dream to be become an NFL Scout. Her father, Jeff Hecklinski, is the offensive coordinator of San Diego State.