49ers name Tom Gamble senior personnel executive

The San Francisco 49ers have made the return of Tom Gamble official. The team announced Gamble will return as senior personnel executive. Trent Baalke issued a statement regarding Gamble's return:

"Tom is one of the most experienced, knowledgeable, and respected personnel men in the business. He played an instrumental role in our personnel department from 2005-2012, and is well versed in our system having played a role in its development. This familiarity, along with his many strengths, will be tremendous assets as we prepare for free agency and the draft. It is great to have Tom back with the 49ers."

Gamble returns to the team after spending two seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles as Vice President of Player Personnel. His departure from Philadelphia was interesting to say the least, as it appeared to be some kind of power struggle between Howie Roseman and Chip Kelly. His departure from the 49ers two years prior was not believed to be acrimonious. Instead, Gamble returned to the east coast to help take care of his ill father, who subsequently passed away.

Gamble returns to a team with coaches in transition, but a front office that is still in good shape. The team lost Joel Patten abruptly before the 2014 NFL Draft, and they never "officially" filled that director of player personnel role. Gamble is not using that director title, but likely will be plenty involved in similar work. The team is in the midst of their draft preparations, with the NFL Combine a few weeks away. Free agency gets going shortly after that on March 10, so his return now gives the team one more experienced talent evaluator to prepare for the coming months.