Everyone has a take when it comes to NFL head coaching candidates. Ranging from “His last run as a head coach went terribly” to “Wow, that [team] offense really improved under him,” there is plenty of publicly known information for outsiders to build their opinions around.
It isn’t quite the same for general manager candidates. Unlike coaches, it is difficult to pinpoint outcomes that GM candidates had their fingerprints on.
Unless the candidate has prior experience as a GM, their actual impact is buried between the lines. Whether they’re an assistant GM, vice president of player personnel, or anything in between, outsiders have no idea which decisions the candidate actually had an influence on. He could have been part of a respected organization but influenced most of the poor decisions, or he could have been part of an unimpressive organization but influenced many of the great decisions.
Perhaps the best way to gauge a candidate’s worthiness is to analyze trends around the league. That’s our goal today. We’re going to look at some of the most successful GMs in the NFL and see if any trends emerge.
Ranking GMs is a highly subjective endeavor without a definitive formula, so I took the liberty of amassing my own personal list of current GMs that I would consider “successful” – in other words, a GM that teams like the New York Jets would envy.
I came up with nine names. Here is the list:
- Brett Veach, Kansas City Chiefs
- John Lynch, San Francisco 49ers
- Howie Roseman, Philadelphia Eagles
- Les Snead, Los Angeles Rams
- Eric DeCosta, Baltimore Ravens
- Brad Holmes, Detroit Lions
- Brandon Beane, Buffalo Bills
- Brian Gutekunst, Green Bay Packers
- Jason Licht, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Are there any trends between these GMs that New York could use to identify the likeliest candidates to succeed?
There sure are. After identifying these trends, I boiled the Jets’ extensive list of GM candidates down to three names whose resumes most closely match those of the NFL’s best GMs.
Let’s break down the backgrounds of the top GMs before they landed their current role.
Brett Veach, Kansas City Chiefs
- Internal promotion
- Previous role: Co-director of player personnel
- Background(s): Scouting
Brett Veach was an internal promotion for Kansas City, one of a few that we will see on this list. He had spent four seasons with the Chiefs before he was promoted to GM in 2017.
Veach began his NFL career as a coaching intern with the Philadelphia Eagles from 2004-07. He spent the following two seasons (2008-09) as a coaches’ assistant. He began his ascension in the front-office world in 2010, serving as a scout for the Eagles from 2010-12.
Following his nine-year run in Philly, Veach was hired as the Chiefs’ pro and college personnel analyst in 2013, a role he held for two years. That was followed by two years as the Chiefs’ co-director of player personnel (2015-16), his final role before landing the GM job in 2017.
John Lynch, San Francisco 49ers
- Outside hire
- Previous role: FOX broadcaster
- Background(s): NFL player, broadcasting
John Lynch probably has the most outside-the-box resume of any GM in the NFL.
A Hall-of-Fame safety as a player, Lynch was a color commentator on FOX for nine seasons following his retirement in 2008. With zero experience working in NFL organizations beyond his playing career, Lynch was tabbed as the 49ers’ GM in 2017.
Among the Jets’ candidates, the closest comparison to Lynch is ESPN analyst Louis Riddick. Unlike Lynch, though, Riddick has 13 years of experience in NFL front offices, even if he hasn’t worked in the league since 2013.
Riddick is widely viewed as the Jets’ most outside-the-box candidate, but Lynch is proof that hiring a GM out of a television role can work. Plus, Riddick is even more qualified than Lynch was. Perhaps Riddick should not be completely ruled out in New York.
Howie Roseman, Philadelphia Eagles
- Internal promotion
- Previous role: Vice president of player personnel
- Background(s): Salary cap
Howie Roseman has one of the greatest underdog stories in the NFL. A law-school graduate by way of Florida and Fordham with no football background, Roseman began sending letters to every NFL team while he was still in high school. He eventually landed a job with the Eagles as a salary cap intern in 2000, and from there, he would begin his meteoric rise throughout the organization.
Roseman held five different titles across 10 seasons before he was promoted to the Eagles’ GM role in 2010, the last of those being vice president of player personnel from 2008-09.
Les Snead, Los Angeles Rams
- Outside hire
- Previous role: Director of player personnel, Atlanta Falcons
- Background(s): Scouting
A college tight end at Auburn, Les Snead began his post-playing career as a graduate assistant for Auburn from 1993-94. He was then hired as a pro scout for the Jacksonville Jaguars in their inaugural 1995 season, a role he held for three seasons.
Following his stint in Jacksonville, Snead spent 11 seasons (1998-2008) as a pro scout for the Atlanta Falcons. His work in this role earned him a promotion to Atlanta’s director of player personnel from 2009-11, which he parlayed into becoming the St. Louis Rams’ general manager in 2012.
Eric DeCosta, Baltimore Ravens
- Internal promotion
- Previous role: Assistant general manager
- Background(s): Scouting
Following four years as an assistant coach for his alma mater, Trinity College, Eric DeCosta joined the Baltimore Ravens as a player personnel assistant in 1996. He spent the next 23 years working his way up throughout the organization, holding five different roles before ultimately being named the successor to Ozzie Newsome in 2019.
DeCosta’s background is in scouting. He was an area scout from 1998-2002 and the director of college scouting from 2003-08. After that, he was promoted to director of player personnel from 2009-11, then to his penultimate role of assistant general manager from 2012-18.
Brad Holmes, Detroit Lions
- Outside hire
- Previous role: Director of college scouting, St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams
- Background(s): Scouting
After playing college football at North Carolina A&T, Holmes took a difficult path to the NFL. While working for Enterprise Rent A Car, Holmes landed a public relations internship with the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks. Holmes parlayed that role into an identical title with the St. Louis Rams in 2003.
Holmes was able to quickly land a role in the team’s player personnel department. HE served as a scout in St. Louis from 2003-12.
In 2023, the Rams promoted Holmes to director of college scouting, a role he held from 2013-20. The Detroit Lions hired him as their GM alongside Dan Campbell in 2021, beginning the franchise’s turnaround.
Brandon Beane, Buffalo Bills
- Outside hire
- Previous role: Assistant general manager, Carolina Panthers
- Background(s): Scouting
Brandon Beane worked in the Carolina Panthers’ personnel department from 1998-2007 before being promoted to director of football operations from 2008-14. After a two-year stint as the Panthers’ assistant general manager, he became Buffalo’s GM in 2017.
Brian Gutekunst, Green Bay Packers
- Internal promotion
- Previous role: Director of player personnel
- Background(s): Scouting
As is tradition in Green Bay, the Packers like to build things from within. Brian Gutekunst spent 18 seasons with the team before he was promoted to GM in 2018, serving four different roles on his way up the ladder.
Gutekunst began his NFL career as a scout for the Kansas City Chiefs in 1998. He was hired as a scout for the Packers in 1999 and held that role through 2011. Gutekunst was promoted to director of college scouting in 2012, and in 2016, he became the director of player personnel.
Jason Licht, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Outside hire
- Previous role: Vice president of player personnel, Arizona Cardinals
- Background(s): Scouting
Jason Licht had a long road to the GM chair, serving 13 different roles with six different organizations from 1996-2013 before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers handed him the reins in 2014.
Licht began as a scouting assistant for the Miami Dolphins in 1995 before serving one season as an offensive assistant coach and quality control coach. He worked for a college scouting agency in 1997 and returned to the NFL as a scout for the Carolina Panthers in 1998.
In 1999, Licht joined the Patriots on the doorstep of their dynasty, helping to plant the seeds of what was to come. He was a college scout from 1999-2000 and a national scout in 2001, before being promoted to assistant director of player personnel in 2002.
Licht would hold several roles – all with “personnel” or “player personnel” in the title – with the Eagles, Cardinals, and Patriots throughout the next decade-plus. Interestingly, his hiring in Tampa Bay came after a demotion. Licht joined the Cardinals as their director of player personnel in 2012, but his title was changed to vice president of player personnel in 2013. Tampa Bay would hire him the following year.
Trends
Outside hire or internal promotion?
- 5 outside hires (Beane, Licht, Holmes, Snead, Lynch)
- 4 internal promotions (Veach, Roseman, DeCosta, Gutekunst)
Interestingly, there was a fairly even split between outside hires and internal promotions. Choosing a candidate from within seems to be a good bet. Unfortunately for the Jets, none of their GM candidates are from within.
Previous role?
- Vice president of player personnel (2) – Roseman, Licht
- Director of player personnel (2) – Snead, Gutekunst
- Assistant general manager (2) – DeCosta, Beane
- Co-director of player personnel (1) – Veach
- Director of college scouting (1) – Holmes
- FOX broadcaster (1) – Lynch
With two apiece, three roles tied for the most common penultimate role for eventual successful GMs: assistant general manager, director of player personnel, and vice president of player personnel. Veach can also be thrown into this mix as a co-director of player personnel.
That makes up seven of the nine GMs, with the exceptions being Holmes (director of college scouting) and Lynch (broadcaster). Considering these four titles are broad and unspecific to any particular facet, perhaps it speaks to the value of serving in an all-encompassing role, as opposed to something that centers around the draft, pro personnel, the salary cap, and so on.
It is worth noting that none of the nine GMs on this list had prior GM experience. Perhaps that is a knock against the candidates on New York’s list who have already served as a GM, including Thomas Dimitroff, Jon Robinson, Ryan Grigson, Ray Farmer, and Brian Gaine.
Background?
- Scouting (7) – Licht, Gutekunst, Beane, Holmes, DeCosta, Snead, Veach
- Player/broadcaster (1) – Lynch
- Salary cap (1) – Roseman
Scouting backgrounds are the overwhelming favorite among the league’s top GMs. Lynch and Roseman are outliers.
Jets candidates with backgrounds outside of scouting include Alec Halaby (analytics), Mike Greenberg (salary cap), and Chris Spielman (player/broadcaster/management).
Best fits?
These were the most common trends:
- Previous role was assistant general manager, director of player personnel, or vice president of player personnel
- Did not have prior GM experience
- Scouting background
So… are there any candidates out there who fit each of those criteria?
Yep. Here they are:
- Jon-Eric Sullivan, Green Bay Packers director of player personnel
- Lance Newmark, Washington Commanders assistant general manager
- Darren Mougey, Denver Broncos assistant general manager
Louis Riddick would fit the bill if you exclude his broadcasting career, as he hails from a scouting background and last served in an NFL front office as the Eagles’ director of pro personnel from 2010-13.
Former Kansas City Chiefs general manager Mike Borgonzi was also a fit, but he has already been hired by the Tennessee Titans.
If NFL trends are to be followed, perhaps the Jets’ best bet is to choose between Sullivan, Newmark, and Mougey, with Riddick being an interesting dark horse. There is already a path of breadcrumbs potentially linking Sullivan to New York.
Obviously, these trends should not be viewed as gospel. The Jets could hire someone who fits the mold perfectly, and he could bomb; surely, there are many GMs around the league who fit this mold and are not thriving. Or, they could hire someone who fits none of the aforementioned criteria, and he could bring New York back to glory. This exercise is simply intended to identify what has worked for other teams when they were in the Jets’ current shoes.
In due time, we shall see if Woody Johnson elects to follow the typical mold of a successful NFL GM or if he takes an outside-the-box route with someone akin to John Lynch or Howie Roseman.
