Panthers vice president of football administration Samir Suleiman is interviewing with the Patriots as part of their search for a new personnel leader in their front office, per reports.

Director of scouting Eliot Wolf, who led the Patriots’ front office all offseason, is widely seen as the favorite to get the job. However, by opening a search, the Patriots are required to satisfy league hiring rules; specifically the Rooney Rule, which mandates at least two in-person interviews with external minority and/or female candidates.

Suleiman has worked in Carolina since 2020 and served as the Panthers’ top contract negotiator. He previously spent seven years in Pittsburgh as the Steelers’ football administration coordinator from 2013-2019 and 10 seasons with the Rams as director of football administration (2000-2009).

Suleiman’s first NFL stops involved analyzing player contracts and monitoring teams’ salary cap compliance for the NFL management council in 1997. He then moved to Jacksonville, where he served as the Jaguars’ manager of contract information for two years.

During his entire stint in Pittsburgh, Suleiman overlapped with current Eagles director of scouting Brandon Hunt, who is also set to interview Wednesday, according to reports. The Patriots are meeting with both of them in Boston, not team headquarters at Gillette Stadium, per Sports Illustrated.

It’s possible the Patriots could hire one or both executives to other front-office positions underneath Wolf, should Wolf maintains his roster control and earns a new title. Suleiman and Hunt are the only known external candidates in this search, which began with three external minority candidates reportedly turning them down. The Patriots have previously used coordinator searches to pursue assistant coaches who were passed over for the coordinator job.

With respect to their top personnel post, the Patriots were in compliance with the Rooney Rule prior to the draft because, according to a league spokesperson, there wasn’t a singular person filling the position, and there were no changes to any other executives’ titles after Bill Belichick’s departure in January. Belichick previously led both the front office and coaching staff.

After Wolf, director of player personnel Matt Groh, director of pro scouting Steve Cargile, director of college scouting Camren Williams and executive vice president of football business Robyn Glaser all hold key roles in the organization, though Glaser is not involved in personnel. Senior personnel executives Patrick Stewart and Alonzo Highsmith are also top executives in Foxboro.

The Patriots are not expected to use the GM title whenever they anoint a new personnel chief, having never used it before under the Kraft family’s ownership.