How much bigger has the GM job gotten?
One team president considered that question Wednesday night, raising how the NFL has thought of splitting the commissioner’s job into two posts, one for business and another for football. And he said the same idea could be pondered for teams hiring a GM for a very specific reason: The number of hats a GM needs to wear can often lead to not putting the one on that got the person the job.
“You wind up losing who you hired,” the president said.
So as I looked at assembling my 15th annual future GMs list over the past couple of weeks, that was at the center of all of this—there are going to be corners each of the candidates below haven’t had to look around yet in their careers. Which is why, in focusing this list, we tried to find a variety of candidates from the scouting side, cap side or the analytics side.
For a fan, thumbing through a list like this is done through the lens of Kevin Costner’s character in —looking for the right guy to stock your team’s roster. What the producers of the movie didn’t show you, though, was Sonny Weaver having to manage salaries, synthesize scouting with analytics and data, work through issues in the locker room or find someone to cut the grass.
“It’s way more than just picking players,” said one AFC GM on Wednesday. “There’s plenty of GMs that were good talent evaluators that couldn’t put it all together. It’s leadership. It’s a CEO job. … When s— happens, you can’t just go close your door. You gotta get out in front. You got to lead. You got to work through it.”
You’ve got to, most of all, manage. And there’s a great story on that from Chicago from two years ago.
Ryan Poles still had a lot to learn at that point, a couple of months into the job as Chicago Bears GM. But he knew enough to know the sensitivity around Justin Fields’s standing as his quarterback. So he invited Fields into the draft room, showing him his board, and explaining ahead of time why he might not draft a receiver early in the NFL draft.
Poles did it to make Fields feel involved, and it paid off in how he, Matt Eberflus and the quarterback were able to build a relationship, and get the locker room through a tough first year ending with a nine-game losing streak. Fields, and the team, have gotten better since.
It was a little thing, yes. But an example, too, of just how big, and all-encompassing, these jobs are, especially for a first-timer whose head is spinning.
“I know the skills you need to have in this job,” said another AFC GM. “And the biggest skill is experience doing a lot of things, and dealing daily with your players, and working with your head coach and owner.”
So that’s where we’ll get started—with that acknowledgment, and one that second-chance candidates such as Jerry Reese, Thomas Dimitroff, Ryan Grigson, Scott Pioli, Jeff Ireland, Jon Robinson and Ray Farmer (with Grigson, Ireland and Farmer having reestablished themselves winning with new teams) should at least merit a look based on this premise.
Also, a couple of qualifiers. One is that there are a few guys (Champ Kelly in Las Vegas and Dave Ziegler in New England) that may have a shot in specific places that didn’t make the list. Another is that, in having to pare down the list, there are some excellent candidates (Dan Morgan in Carolina) that didn’t make it because of where their teams stand.
And with that, here you go …
Ray Agnew, assistant GM, Detroit Lions:Agnew has an interesting background as a candidate on this list—once a top-10 pick, the old defensive tackle transitioned to an off-field role with the Rams after winning a Super Bowl with them in 1999, then retired after the 2000 season. His 18-year rise through the administrative side included stints as team pastor, director of player development, assistant pro scouting director and, finally, pro scouting director. Brad Holmes took him to Detroit with him, where he’s been an invaluable resource with a unique eye in player evaluation, and as a unifying force with a low-key Ozzie Newsome–type of presence.
