Jimmy Raye III currently oversees both the pro and collegiate scouting departments and assisted former General Manager A.J. Smith with player personnel. He has been with the San Diego Chargers organization for 17 years in various capacities. He spent four years as a scout before moving his way up to director of college scouting and he spent eight more seasons in that role before assuming his current one.

Raye, a former NFL player, has definitely put in the time and has by all accounts earned the opportunity to become a General Manager with an NFL team. He was a candidate for the Chicago Bears job last January before they settled on Phil Emery. There is no reason to suspect that Raye is incompetent or otherwise unqualified for the position he's being considered for by the Chargers.

All that said, the San Diego Chargers as an organization are deeply, deeply flawed and there is a strong argument to be made that they need serious change from the top all the way down. Dean Spanos isn't going anywhere, but A.J. Smith and Norval Turner have been relieved of their duties which is certainly a good start toward changing the culture of the organization. However, we have to ask if it's really possible to change that culture by promoting from within.

Jimmy Raye is not A.J. Smith and there's no reason to think he'd run the show exactly the way his boss did. In fact, you'd have to imagine that a reasonable man wouldn't even consider hiring Raye if he planned to keep everything the same as it has been. The problem there, though, is that there's no reason to believe that Dean Spanos is all that reasonable.

Vote in the poll and let us know in the comments how you feel about the potential promotion of Jimmy Raye III?