I GREW UP IN: Ebensburg, Pennsylvania.
AS A KID, I PLAYED: Baseball, basketball, and football.
CHILDHOOD DREAMS: I think we all wanted to go pro at some point. But I had a pretty good perspective of where I was once I started playing in high school, so I knew that wasn’t going to happen. As a kid, I remember following the NFL draft and being really entrenched in just the building of the team and where the guys were from, their backgrounds, and all that. We all collected football cards back in the day, but I cared more about the back of the card, and what school they came from.
ON THE HILL, I PLAYED: Football.
AND I STUDIED: Business Administration with a minor in Accounting. My sophomore year, I came back home and did an accounting internship, and I realized quickly that desk life was not for me.
I REALIZED I COULD WORK IN SPORTS WHEN: I stayed at the Hill for two years after graduation as a coach working with the quarterbacks the first year and the secondary in my second year. I realized I wanted to get more into the administrative and operations type work. The assistant director of football operations job at University of Pennsylvania came open and I made the move to Philly. After just over six months, a recruiting assistant job at Northwestern University became available and I moved to Chicago, where I spent five years total, advancing to assistant director of football operations and then director of football operations.
HOW I BROKE INTO THE INDUSTRY: As director of football operations at Northwestern, I became the liaison for the NFL. When guys would come in during the scouting process, I would provide background information about our players. During a conversation one time, a director from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers mentioned they had two job openings coming up and that they’d love to have me come down and interview. I flew down on a Thursday, interviewed on Friday, and then flew back home. They had me back on a plane on Saturday to start work. When they say things happen fast, they aren’t kidding. I was with Tampa for four years on the pro side of scouting, which deals more with upcoming opponents, handling the roster day to day, bringing players in for workouts, cutting players, and whatever we need to do to help fill the roster. After four years, I moved to the college scouting side. My wife, Kristen, and I moved back to Chicago after the birth of our oldest son, Payton, and I focused on the Midwest as an area scout responsible for 10 to 12 states. In June 2014, I joined the Los Angeles Chargers as a Midwest scout, and I was promoted to national crosschecker in May 2018.
I stayed at the Hill for two years after graduation as a coach working with the quarterbacks the first year and the secondary in my second year. I realized I wanted to get more into the administrative and operations type work.
Justin Sheridan ’99, National Football League
MY JOB IN A NUTSHELL: Based here in Chicago, I have a territory from here to the West Coast, and I am the second set of eyes that goes into a school after the area scout has already been and checked out players. I get one shot at visiting a school and/or seeing a game. Every day is different and every prospect is unique, but we’re always trying to compare guys to who we’ve scouted in the past and how they’ve worked out. We have five or six times that we’ll be out in L.A. together for meetings and training camp, but other than that, I’m with guys who work for the competition. It’s a great network, and we’re all trying to gather information and make the best educated decision we can.
WHAT I LOVE MOST ABOUT MY JOB: Game day. We are not in the day-to-day operation, so we watch the team like superfans on Sundays. I love being able to take my family and show off the final product, what this job is all about. There’s a lot of excitement around the draft, but the draft room is actually pretty calm; there’s not a lot of banter back and forth and things are pretty buttoned-up at that point. Game day is the best part for me. I’ll try to hit 10 or 11 games per season, but I also try to juggle the family obligations since all three of my kids play sports, and I want to be there to support and see them play, too.
THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF MY JOB: The travel and the time away. We have three children, Payton, Brooks, and Tatum. Kristen is amazing how she can keep three kids going day to day, as well as working her job and being a fitness instructor. I joke that she’s got a Ph.D. in logistics and operations! The time away during the fall is hard. I have a little light at the end of the tunnel just to get through the draft, but I always try to make sure that when I’m home, I’m here, I’m present, and I’m involved.
WHAT’S NEXT? Compete, each and every day. My mindset is to be the best national crosschecker in the NFL in order to help our organization field the best team possible, to win our division, and make a run at the Super Bowl! That being said, I would eventually like to work my way to being director of college scouting, director of player personnel, eventually a general manager. But in the NFL, you just have to be ready for what comes at you next.