Patriots make historic hire: Maya Ana Callender first female scout in franchise’s 64 years, per report

The New England Patriots‘ most notable acquisition this week won’t play a down for the team in 2023. Instead, she will make history as the first female scout in the 64 years of the franchise.

Maya Ana Callender, who recently served as Princeton’s director of football operations, has been added to the Patriots’ scouting department, per ESPN. A 2016 graduate of Utica College, Callender’s first NFL experience came during a 2021 fellowship with the Philadelphia Eagles. 

Callender’s role at Princeton increased following her Eagles fellowship. Along with her typical roles that included the team’s traveling accommodations and meeting schedules, Callender took on a larger role in scouting. 

“She was able to carve out time almost every day to practice the craft of evaluating,” Princeton coach Bob Surace told ESPN. “She would look at NFL games, evaluate players and learn scout-speak — the language of talking about somebody’s reach, length, production, how they use their hands. … She would have a pad out at our practices, taking notes.

“She became our pro/NFL liaison, so every time a scout came in — which was probably 50 times last year, every team came in at least once — she set them up. She talked about the players, their injury histories, how she had evaluated their performances. Then, by the time the scouts got to me, they didn’t have a lot of questions. I was kind of irrelevant on that, which was a new thing for me. She was terrific.”

Callender will now get a chance to learn from arguably the greatest coach in NFL history in Bill Belichick, who is embarking on his 24th season season as the Patriots’ head coach. Like Callender, Belichick broke into the NFL by working an entry-level position. He was the Colts‘ special assistant in 1975 before becoming the Lions‘ assistant special teams coach in 1976. He got his big break in 1985 when then-Giants coach Bill Parcells promoted him to defensive coordinator. The rest, as they say, is history. 

Along with teams having more women on staff (there were six women who were full-time coaches during the 2022 season), the overall percentage of women in the NFL’s front office is at an all-time high. USA Today reported this past November that 41.3% of the league’s various positions were held by women. 

“It’s great to see more women in these roles,” said Katie Sylvan, the Chargers‘ director of football administration. “There have been women in these roles before me and there will definitely be women in these roles after me. I think that’s really the most important thing is that people understand that these opportunities exist and are out there if it’s something they’re interested in doing and pursuing.”