Vikings close to hiring personnel aide

Rick Spielman appears to be putting his stamp on the Vikings' front office.

Spielman, the team's vice president of player personnel, was close to hiring Miami Dolphins director of pro personnel George Paton, people with knowledge of the situation said Wednesday night. That doesn't appear to be the only change coming in the front office.

Longtime pro scout Paul Wiggin, 72, an employee of the Vikings for 22 years who has spent nearly five decades in the NFL as a player, coach and administrator, is expected to become a consultant with the franchise. Another pro scout, Frank Acevedo will shift to the college side and work closely with director of college scouting Scott Studwell. Acevedo has been with the Vikings for five seasons and the NFL for 12.

A Vikings spokesperson declined to comment on the moves when reached Wednesday. Paton is expected to be Spielman's righthand man in overseeing the Vikings' pro and college scouting departments.

The two have worked together twice before in the NFL. Spielman and Paton first crossed paths in 1997 when they joined the Chicago Bears. Spielman was the team's director of pro personnel and Paton worked as an assistant in the team's college and pro scouting departments.

Spielman left to become Miami's vice president of player personnel in 2000 and Paton followed to become the Dolphins' director of pro personnel in June 2001. During his time with the Bears, Paton was promoted twice, finishing his tenure with the team as the assistant director of pro personnel.

Paton never played in the NFL, but was a four-year letterman at UCLA as a defensive back from 1988 to 1991. He graduated with a history degree, and played pro football in Italy and Austria. Paton's final stop before becoming an NFL executive was in computer software sales. He also was an assistant football coach at Los Angeles' Loyola High School, where he had attended.

The fact these changes are occurring now does not come as a surprise. Spielman was hired by the Vikings in late May 2006 after Fran Foley's brief and tumultuous tenure. Most NFL personnel executives had already signed contracts for the coming year, so this was Spielman's first chance to make an outside hire or shuffle the current staff.

Take a break

Veteran nose tackle Pat Williams was on the field Wednesday but did not take part in practice so he could rest his knees. Williams expects to be off from practice again today but will return Friday.

Williams said his knees benefit from not having to practice on the turf in the indoor facility. The team worked outside for 40 minutes before bad weather forced the action to move inside.

Etc.

• Receiver Maurice Mann, who missed three practices during the recent minicamp because of tightness in his hamstring, was waived.

• Linebacker Dontarrious Thomas watched practice after leaving the field a day earlier because of an undisclosed injury.

• Defensive end Kenechi Udeze missed a second consecutive day because of illness and right tackle Ryan Cook and disgruntled cornerback Antoine Winfield were absent. The OTA workouts are optional.

Judd Zulgad • jzulgad@startribune.com