Ravens promote – The Baltimore Ravens have promoted 12 members of their player personnel department, reshaping roles across college scouting, pro personnel, football administration, and data and sports science.
The Baltimore Ravens didn’t just add new titles this week—they handed out expanded responsibility to 12 people inside the player personnel department, with Tuesday’s announcement detailing who moved where and what each new role will involve.
Joey Cleary was named Director of College Scouting as he enters his 12th year in Baltimore. Cleary spent the past two seasons as the organization’s assistant director of college scouting. covering numerous schools across different regions. He has worked as the team’s southeast area scout (2021), west area scout (2020) and northeast area scout (2019). Cleary originally joined the Ravens as a player personnel assistant in 2015. and the promotion keeps him firmly in the scouting pipeline.
Sophie Cortese becomes Assistant Director of Football Administration. Cortese enters her fourth year in Baltimore after serving as the football administration/salary cap analyst from 2023-25. She began with the Ravens as an analytics player personnel training camp intern in 2021 and worked as an offensive analyst for the Colby football team while in college.
Corey Frazier has been promoted to Director of Pro Personnel. Frazier joined the Ravens as a player personnel assistant in 2017. and most recently served as the organization’s assistant director of pro personnel for the past two years. Before that. he worked as a Ravens pro scout for two years (2019-20). then spent three seasons as a West Coast scout (2021-23). Earlier in his career with the team. Frazier worked as an advance scout for Vanderbilt University (2016) and spent the 2015 NFL season with the Broncos as a scouting intern.
Nick Matteo has been named Vice President of Football Operations, entering his eighth season with the Ravens in 2026. Matteo previously served as the organization’s vice president of football administration. overseeing all areas of football administration. including day-to-day salary cap management and all roster transactions. He also negotiates contracts for the Ravens’ draft picks and free agents. and he has worked on the extensions for several standout Ravens. Matteo spent nine years (2010-18) with the NFL Management Council. eventually being promoted to the NFL’s senior director of labor operations.
David McDonald’s title has also changed: he is now Vice President of Football Science. entering his 12th season in Baltimore. McDonald formerly served as the team’s vice president of research and development. and he leads all software and data development aspects of the player personnel department. He spent five years (2019-23) as the Ravens’ director of research and development after joining the organization in 2015 as a football systems developer. Before Baltimore, McDonald spent five years (2010-14) with the Falcons as a football systems developer.
Andrew Raphael is promoted to Assistant Director of Player Personnel. Raphael enters his 14th season with the Ravens after serving as the director of college scouting for the past two seasons (2024-25). He previously spent three seasons (2021-23) as a national scout, after five years (2016-20) as Baltimore’s Southeast area scout. Raphael originally joined the Ravens as a player personnel intern (2013-14) and later was promoted to player personnel assistant in 2015. Before arriving in the NFL, Raphael worked as an assistant recruiting coordinator at Boston College (2011-12).
Bobby Vega becomes Assistant Director of Player Personnel as he begins his ninth season in Baltimore and his 22nd season in the NFL. The promotion is the second consecutive year for Vega, who had been elevated to senior personnel executive in 2025. Vega previously spent two seasons (2023-24) as a national scout after serving as the team’s east area scout from 2018-22. His NFL career began as an intern in 2004 with Baltimore’s player personnel department. followed by 13 seasons (2005-17) with the Browns. before returning to the Ravens in 2018.
In the scouting department, JoJo Wooden is named West Coast Area Scout and will join the Ravens in 2026. Wooden brings experience from across NFL front offices. including spending the 2024 season as the senior director of player personnel for the Raiders. He previously had an 11-year stint as the director of player personnel for the Chargers. and he served as the interim General Manager at the end of the 2023 season. Wooden began his NFL career with the Jets as a pro personnel assistant in 1997. then worked his way through the ranks over 16 seasons (1997-2012). finishing his final six seasons as the team’s assistant director of player personnel.
Joe Morena has been named Northeast Area Scout. Moreno begins his third season in Baltimore in 2026 after serving as a player personnel assistant the past two seasons (2024-25). He previously spent three seasons as the director of player personnel at Southern Miss (2021-23). where he was the lead staffer in charge of recruiting. Moreno got his start in collegiate athletics, spending time as a recruiting intern at Harvard (2018) and Stanford (2018-19). He was hired as a player personnel graduate assistant at Auburn (2019-20).
On the data side, David Kang becomes Senior Data Scientist as he enters his second season with the Ravens. Kang joined the club in 2025 as a quantitative analyst. His background includes four years as a senior data scientist at Apple. Kang graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina before earning a master’s degree in statistics from Stanford.
Connor Gorny has been promoted to Applied Sports Scientist and enters his third season with the Ravens. Gorny previously was an assistant strength and conditioning coach and football sport science coordinator in 2023 at Rice University. after one season as assistant sports performance coach and sport science coordinator for football at the University of Colorado. Gorny also spent time as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Utah State University (2019-20) and as the head of athletic performance for Real Salt Lake Academy (2020-21).
TJ Ajibola completes the group, earning a new listing as Pro Scout. Ajibola enters his eighth season with the Ravens after serving as a player personnel assistant for the organization since 2019. Before his time in Baltimore, he spent two years (2017-18) as a management trainee at Enterprise Holdings.
The promotions collectively map across nearly every layer of the Ravens’ personnel machine. from college scouting and pro evaluation to salary cap and roster transactions. while expanding the department’s focus through software and data development led by David McDonald and roles in applied sports science and analytics headed by Connor Gorny and David Kang.
For now, the Ravens have made the scope clear: these aren’t lateral changes. Each promotion signals a larger job—more responsibility for evaluating talent, managing football administration and roster work, and building the systems that feed decisions inside the player personnel department.
Baltimore Ravens player personnel promotions Joey Cleary Sophie Cortese Corey Frazier Nick Matteo David McDonald Andrew Raphael Bobby Vega JoJo Wooden Joe Morena David Kang Connor Gorny TJ Ajibola
So basically they just moved people around. Does that mean better picks or what?
I can’t tell if this is “cool behind the scenes” or just PR. College scouting already seems like a black box, lol.
Wait, Joey Cleary was like the southeast scout right? That’s the only part I understood. If he’s Director now, hopefully he finds a Lamar-level steal or whatever.
Promote 12 staffers and reshaping roles… sounds like they’re panicking? Like if the data and sports science people got bumped up then maybe they lost someone or the team’s in trouble. Also salary cap analyst to football admin?? idk I’m just connecting dots that may not be real.