The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 ■ 29 plans, Agnew decided to take Martz up on it. "I retired Aug. 8, 2001, and I was hired the next day," Agnew explained. "… I moved into scouting around 2004 and been doing that ever since." Paid To Watch Football It's hard to fully describe what Agnew meant to the Rams teams that were better known as "The Greatest Show on Turf." "Ray Agnew is as honest as any person you will ever talk to in this business, which sometimes is hard to find," former Rams assistant head coach Dave McGinnis told Yahoo! Sports in 2019. "I've been involved in this league for 33 years, and he immedi- ately grabs your respect. "He's a very quiet guy; he's very unas- suming. But when he speaks, you listen. He's a really, really good man. A good hu- man being." "He was the leader," Holt told Yahoo. "Brother Ray worked hard and he believed in keeping the team together. "So it meant a great deal for us young fellas to win a Super Bowl, and to see the joy and jubilation come over Ray and all of the vets. To see their faces, it was just great satisfaction." Thus it was not surprising Martz wanted to keep Agnew around, and nearly two de- cades later he is still a strong presence in the organization. Agnew is currently the Rams' director of pro personnel, one of its highest-ranked officials in the front office. He, among other things, was credited with being an advocate for Los Angeles selecting its current superstar defensive tackle Aaron Donald in the first round of the 2014 draft with the 13th overall pick. Since then, Donald has been named to the Pro Bowl each season, was the NFL's De- fensive Player of the Year in 2017 and 2018, and brought an active streak of five straight first-team All-Pro honors into the campaign. "Ray was a huge advocate of Aaron," Rams general manager Les Snead told Ya- hoo! Sports. "And because Ray is such a steady presence, when he gets excited about someone, you can just feel, 'Okay, there's a good chance this guy is going to be a really good player.' "He was on board with Aaron from the first moment he saw Aaron in the process." "I can tell you as a GM, you're always going to give Ray defensive linemen to do [scouting reports]," Snead added. "And over the years, when you would run the analyt- ics, what he said about defensive linemen that were coming out in the draft often was on point." For his part, Agnew does not subscribe to any particular approach for finding talent. It's simple for him — scout good football players, find out if they can play at the NFL level and figure why or why not. "I feel like I got the best job in the world," Agnew said. "I get paid to watch football, something I absolutely love." One of the pluses to Agnew's job is that he's on the pro scouting side, which tends to be more in-house and not involve travel. That allowed him to raise his three sons in St. Louis before the Rams relocated to the West Coast. Oldest son Ray III played at Southern Illinois and then had stops with the Browns, Cowboys and Redskins in 2014-15. Middle son Malcolm was a running back at Oregon State and Southern Illinois, and signed a free agent contract with the Packers before an injury forced him into retirement. He is now the running backs coach at North Dakota. Youngest son Keenan is a starting defen- sive tackle and junior at Southern Illinois. Agnew did not push them into the sport, but he loved getting the chance to see them follow in his footsteps. "It was a joy to watch them play," Agnew said. "I was more nervous watching them than, honestly, doing it myself. There's nothing greater as a father than watching your kid compete and give it their all." Agnew does not get back to Raleigh as much as he wants. The annual former play- ers' reunion typically conflicts with draft preparations, but he still talks with many of the former Wolfpack players and coaches he came across. "The relationships that I built there, that's priceless," Agnew said. "You can't put a price on that." ■ " It isn't for everybody, but it is for me. I love it. I can watch 6-year-olds play football. I still love going to watch high school ball. I just love the game. " Agnew on football Agnew played a key role in the Rams drafting star defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who has been listed as the NFL's top player by Pro Football Focus entering each of the last four seasons. PHOTO COURTESY LOS ANGELES RAMS