Phil Emery (American football)

Phil Emery  is the General Manager of the Chicago Bears. He is responsible for the salary cap and coordinates other facets of the football operations. After being hired, Bears chairman George McCaskey told him that though head coach Lovie Smith's contract runs through 2013, and that Smith will be head coach in 2012, Emery has the ability to make a change at the position. Smith was eventually fired on December 31 after the Bears missed the playoffs.

Emery grew up in Michigan and attended high school at Garden City East High (which is now Garden City High School), and then attended college at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Emery previously was a scout for the Bears, from 1998 to 2004, serving head coach Lovie Smith. After this, he was a director of scouting for the Atlanta Falcons from 2004 to 2008 and the Kansas City Chiefs from 2008 to 2011. Prior to the Bears job, he was a strength and conditioning coach at several colleges, including Central Michigan University (1981-1982), Western New Mexico University (1983), Georgetown College (1984-1985), Saginaw Valley State University (1983-1987), University of Tennessee (1987-1991), and the United States Naval Academy (1991-1998).

In 2012, Bears general manager Jerry Angelo was fired after 11 seasons with the team. During the team's search, Emery was one of the four candidates, and was one of the two finalists for the job, along with Arizona Cardinals director of pro personnel Jason Licht.

In Emery's first draft, he selected Shea McClellin, Alshon Jeffery, Brandon Hardin, Evan Rodriguez, Isaiah Frey, and Greg McCoy. Overall, critics had mixed reviews on Emery's debut draft, with the Chicago Sun-Times experts giving the draft an average "C" grade.