The Sports Xchange

Longtime NFL team executive Rod Graves has been hired as the NFL’s senior vice president of football administration and club services.

Graves will work in the NFL’s football operations department and “will oversee all club and game-related initiatives related to the Competition Committee, general managers and head coaches,” according to the league announcement. “Graves is responsible for the strategic development of coaching, scouting, officiating, and front office personnel, international players and coaches, the Combine series, college relations and the player pipeline.”

Graves was senior director of football administration for the New York Jets in 2013-14. He also was the Arizona Cardinals’ general manager from 2007 to 2012. He started in the NFL in 1984, when the Chicago Bears hired him as director of player personnel. He left the Bears in 1997 to join the Cardinals.