Who gets the credit and who skirts the blame is ever shifting in the NFL. This offseason, front offices had a decisive advantage over the sidelines. Whereas a staggering 10 head coaches were pink slipped, only three general managers were let go. Maybe it’s a sign the times are changing, and football executives will soon be lauded the way they are in baseball. More likely, it’s just a temporary blip, and the pitchforks will be back out in no time for our drafters and salary cap managers.
The criteria is the same as always. All front office activity — from players and coaches to draft picks and contracts — is taken into consideration. Past achievements are not forgotten, but recent history is given greater emphasis. Even in a results-based business, the process is vital. Last year’s list can be found here. 2024’s is here.
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1. Howie Roseman, Eagles
Sometimes a fact becomes so obvious, no one bothers saying it out loud. This is where I point out Howie Roseman is already a Hall-of-Famer. Having long since outlasted Andy Reid and Chip Kelly, Roseman has gone on to achieve one of the most difficult feats in professional sports: Winning a championship with two different cores. Even more rare for the NFL, he has done it with both different coaches and quarterbacks. If the Nick Foles/Doug Pederson season was the fairy tale, the Jalen Hurts/Nick Sirianni title was the legacy-cementer. Those accomplishments coming just seven years apart feels almost impossible in the NFL, but speak to Roseman’s greatest strength: He never wallows in a mistake for long. It didn’t matter that Carson Wentz was the No. 2 overall pick. It was irrelevant that Pederson won a Super Bowl. They were no longer the right fit for Roseman’s roster, so he moved on to greener pastures. Of course, you can only cut your losses if you bank plenty of gains. Roseman is the league’s best overall drafter, excelling both in Round 1 and on Days 2 and 3. He’s a willing trade partner, paying up for players like A.J. Brown and Jaelan Phillips while being unafraid to acquire bounce-back fliers. He’s an adept free agency spender, making signings like Saquon Barkley and Zack Baun. There is no such thing as a perfect general manager, but Roseman is as close as the NFL gets in 2026.
2. John Schneider, Seahawks
John Schneider had never hired a coach before Mike Macdonald. He was brought on by Pete Caroll, not vice versa. That was a beautiful pairing, but one that faded like all football marriages. That was the normal part. Abnormal has been Schneider’s success since. In addition to hiring Macdonald, Schneider finally got out of the draft wilderness, spending the first half of the decade building the 53-man roster that not only won the Super Bowl, but did so from the league’s toughest division. He also empowered his young head coach to make bold decisions. One season of OC Ryan Grubb and Geno Smith was enough for Macdonald. Schneider and Macdonald then bet on free agent Sam Darnold despite his late-season collapse for the Vikings. Their reward for not overindexing two games in Minnesota was the second Super Bowl title in Seattle history. It’s not that simple, of course, but nothing ever is in the NFL. Schneider has been around long enough to know there will be more valleys. What now separates him from the pack is he’s reached the mountaintop in two different eras with two different running mates. That is very unusual indeed, and somewhat improbably puts Schneider on a Hall-of-Fame trajectory.
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3. Sean McVay/Les Snead, Rams
Is it just too easy for Sean McVay and Les Snead? The Rams’ franchise cornerstone, Aaron Donald, retired after the 2023 campaign. How have they done in the two seasons since? Divisional Round loss and NFC Championship Game loss. Replacing Donald was a test the Rams passed without even studying. Maybe that’s why they insisted on upping the difficulty level this offseason. After finishing one game shy of the Super Bowl with a 38-year-old quarterback, the Rams should be all in on 2026. It seemed like they were when they traded a first-round pick for Chiefs CB Trent McDuffie. Then it came time to make their other pick and … yeah. Staring the Lombardi in the face, McVay and company selected Ty Simpson, someone who won’t play until 2027 at the earliest absent injury. It’s bad enough the Rams passed on immediate help. It’s even worse when you remember McVay changes his mind quickly on offense. Will Simpson even still be his ideal quarterback two years from now? The Rams are too smart for the rest of the league. Occasionally, they are too smart for even their own good.
4. Eric DeCosta, Ravens
Eric DeCosta had never done this job without two men: Lamar Jackson and John Harbaugh. The latter — and his considerable influence — are now in New York City. With the Ravens coming off just their third losing season since 2007, it gives DeCosta a rare shot at a reset for one of the league’s most stable franchises. DeCosta kept his offseason eye on both the short and long term. New head coach Jesse Minter — just the Ravens’ fourth since they moved to Baltimore 30 years ago — was one of the cycle’s top additions. Only 43 years old with an immaculate pedigree and track record of success everywhere he has been as defensive coordinator, Minter is the exact kind of hire the Ravens’ archrival, the Steelers, didn’t make. Advantage Ravens. On the short term front, DeCosta added an impact pass rusher in Trey Hendrickson for what remains of Jackson’s prime. It came after considerable controversy — the Ravens nixed their Maxx Crosby acquisition for likely less than altruistic reasons — but was unquestionably the right move on paper. In the seven years since he replaced the seemingly irreplaceable Ozzie Newsome, DeCosta’s rosters have won fewer than 10 games only twice. The playoff heartache speaks for itself, but DeCosta is a level-headed leader who never finds himself short-handed today because he is always thinking about tomorrow. He should one day be rewarded with a Super Bowl.
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5. Andy Reid/Brett Veach, Chiefs
No one said it would be easy. It also doesn’t have to be this hard. The Chiefs’ champagne problems — poor draft capital, lack of cap space — finally resulted in shattered 2025 glass, with the operation circling the drain even before Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL. The same old issues — no running game, too few reliable hands in the passing attack, shaky blocking — moved from the back burner to front of mind. Band-Aids would no longer do, so Brett Veach and company indeed got creative, trading contract-year No. 1 CB Trent McDuffie for an extra first-round pick. The Chiefs then used all three of their top-40 selections on defenders, even trading up from No. 9 overall to No. 6 to select LSU corner Mansoor Delane. On the one hand, it’s bad — Kansas City’s receiver corps remains a glaring weakness — but on the other, it’s good. Veach and Andy Reid decided not to force solutions that didn’t exist. In lieu of the again-delayed wideout upgrades, Kenneth Walker was added to the backfield. Paired with Emari Demercado and intriguing Day 3 runner Emmett Johnson, the Chiefs at least now have a rushing attack. It’s a much needed safety valve for what are likely to remain passing-game problems as Mahomes rehabs and throws to a sub-par skill group. This roster is not out of the woods. It’s also in better shape than it was a year ago.
6. Brian Gutekunst, Packers
Brian Gutekunst is never going to show up short-handed. This is a man who likes to stockpile draft picks and generally knows what to do with them. He has misses like anyone else, but relies on pure volume and variety. 2026 was an exception, where for the first time Gutekunst lacked a first-rounder. It was traded last summer for Micah Parsons, the kind of bold gambit Gutekunst is frequently accused of not making. It worked until it didn’t — Parsons tore his ACL in Week 15 — but will still define the near-term future of this franchise, and perhaps Gutekunst’s ultimate fate. For as reliably as the Packers win during the regular season, they have only one postseason victory since 2020. They have just three total during Gutekunst’s eight years in charge. That’s despite making the tournament 6-of-8 times. That would seem to speak to a roster that has plenty of depth but lacks the kind of difference-makers who tend to decide playoff contests. Parsons is that kind of player. Pairing him with Jordan Love and the Packers’ general depth is a sensible plan. If it doesn’t work, it might be time to change the front office scenery in Titletown.
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7. Brad Holmes, Lions
The going has finally gotten tough for Brad Holmes. In traditional Lions terms, that would mean 3-14 with the No. 1 overall pick. For Holmes, it means 9-8 with a Week 18 win over upstart rival Chicago. The sky is not falling in Detroit. It’s just time for Holmes to prove he can maintain a roster, not merely build it up. That might sound like an odd or even pointless distinction, but there is a difference between rebuilding from rock bottom and staying at the top. Holmes cashed in his high-end picks and ample cap space beautifully. It gets harder when you are always outside the draft lottery and dealing with quarterback salaries north of $50 million. That’s why it’s been a quieter few offseasons in Detroit. Holmes hasn’t made major mistakes, there just weren’t enough “small wins” in 2025. Holmes is now operating on the margins. How he fills out the back end of his roster becomes almost as important as the top. You rarely reach a Super Bowl without excelling in all three phases at every level of the roster. Given enough time, Holmes has aced all his Lions tests. We would ultimately expect this moment of adversity to be no different.
8. Kyle Shanahan/John Lynch, 49ers
How do you separate Kyle Shanahan the coach and game planner from Kyle Shanahan the personnel maverick? Because the disconnect in San Francisco is starting to appear downright Belichick-ian. Yes, Brock Purdy was the literal final pick of the draft, but that came one year after Trey Lance was the No. 3 overall pick. Nick Bosa, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle were all last decade. Shanahan and John Lynch’s recent first-rounders have either been shaky or haven’t existed thanks to the Lance trade. Most baffling of all has been Shanahan’s continual failure to draft reliable contributors on his offensive side of the ball. He’s buying the groceries, but seems to be winging the ingredients. He has fared much better when acquiring proven NFL talent like Christian McCaffrey and Trent Williams, though even those moves can no longer be described as recent. Shanny and Lynch seemed to sense the need for a draft reset, but the answer was apparently “AI” and disregarding the “consensus” board. The quickest way to make yourself look foolish in the NFL is thinking you are smarter than everyone else. For his part, Shanny really is as a play-caller. In the front office? Let’s just say he needs this offseason to be a positive turning point.
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9. Nick Caserio, Texans
Nick Caserio has simply been solid. Lacking a first-round pick his first year on the job, he found Nico Collins in the third round. Awash in Day 1 selections after trading Deshaun Watson, he landed Derek Stingley, Will Anderson Jr. and C.J. Stroud. Although those first two names have already been extended, the third is proving to be a bit of a problem. Of course, how big is any problem when the team has won at least 10 games each of the past three seasons? Caserio has gotten most of his big decisions right. He has bided his time when necessary and made bold moves when the opportunity arises. He’s been a wheeler dealer, especially on draft weekend. He’s found the right coach for the franchise in DeMeco Ryans. Now he just needs to hope his most important player doesn’t remain his biggest liability. Caserio has shown enough that the Texans should keep him even if Stroud flames out. He’s also been around long enough to know that’s not always the way it works in the National Football League.
10. Sean Payton/George Paton, Broncos
Sean Payton inherited a strong overall roster when he took the Broncos’ job in 2023. It lacked a quarterback, but he has since found one in Bo Nix. A highly-questionable selection at the time, it is looking like Payton’s best pick since arriving in Denver. Obviously, that’s a great outcome since it comes at the most important position. It’s extra critical for Payton because he hasn’t drafted exceptionally well elsewhere. This roster has been more sustained by free agency than the draft. More power to you if you can pull that off, but it is typically a short-term trick. Payton is definitely thinking shorter term, from his Nix gamble to this offseason’s trade for aging No. 1 receiver Jaylen Waddle. The Broncos need 2026 to be Waddle’s best season, as they were amongst the league’s lightest spenders in free agency, and made no draft picks before No. 66. They are running back a veteran-laden defense and offensive line. Payton is one of the league’s best talents at living in the now. But as his long track record of draft trades and contract restructures can attest, he will get back to you on tomorrow.
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11. Joe Hortiz, Chargers
Although coach Jim Harbaugh is the man in charge for the Chargers, GM Joe Hortiz is not merely along for the ride. That’s because someone has to take notes as the eccentric Harbaugh dictates while driving and makes frequent stops for coffee and bird watching. Being Harbaugh’s right-hand man is probably a bit exhausting, but it’s also a gig that bestows absolute trust. Since getting burned by GM Trent Baalke in San Francisco, Harbaugh has always ensured he is surrounded by “his people,” and Hortiz has certainly seemed like the right personnel man. This is a methodical front office attached to a fundamentally sound head coach. The 53rd roster spot seems just as important as Justin Herbert’s perch at the top. That’s how you get free agencies where a center and blocking tight end were the biggest expenditures. You can question the wisdom of that slow-and-steady approach in the cutthroat AFC West, but Harbaugh’s floor is looking as high as ever. The ceiling is unquestionably within reach. Harbaugh will get all the glory if the unthinkable happens and a Chargers championship parade takes to the streets of Los Angeles, but you better believe Hortiz’s low-key approach will be one of the things that got him there.
12. Jason Licht, Bucs
Jason Licht has been on the job 12 years. The number of times he’s won more than 10 games without the greatest player in league history? Zero. In fact, Licht has one total playoff victory without Mr. Thomas Brady. Of course, it came three years ago immediately following TB12’s retirement. In fact, Licht has had his best non-Brady stretch since the GOAT hung up his cleats. The problem is, that “best stretch” has been nine, 10 and eight victories. Far from terrible. Also far from inspiring, especially in the sleepy NFC South. There isn’t much reason to expect any near-term revelations. The defense is old and in need of a talent infusion. Admittedly, Rueben Bain is a good start there. Baker Mayfield is a credible option at quarterback, but not a 5-10 year solution. Coach Todd Bowles is solid but not winning any Xs and Os battles. Mike Evans is gone, Chris Godwin is aging … you get the picture. Licht needs something big to happen. Maybe Bain can be that player for 2026. But with another Brady not walking through that door, Licht needs several Bains to emerge, not just one.
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13. Eliot Wolf, Patriots
Few GMs had a more active 2025 offseason than Eliot Wolf. No one was more successful. Riding a back to the Patriots future coaching staff and free agent spending spree on defense, the Pats overachieved all the way to the Super Bowl. They ran out of gas against the Seahawks, but Wolf showed just how important the right coaching hire and open market additions can be. This spring was destined to be quieter until head coach Mike Vrabel made it very, very loud. Things started innocently enough in free agency, with Wolf fortifying the offensive side of the ball with OG Alijah Vera-Tucker and Romeo Doubs. He left the 2026 defensive improvements up to Vrabel. Before he could coach them up, however, Vrabel found himself in the glaring spotlight of scandal. We don’t need to rehash the particulars here, only that Vrabel still has his job for the time being. Whether he can maintain the respect of the locker room or his own self confidence after this offseason’s events is another matter. That might sound dramatic, but this is a business where a coach’s word is supposed to be sacrosanct. Vrabel’s always had been. If it turns out Vrabel has lost more than just his marital integrity, Wolf could find himself starting over on the sideline much sooner than expected.
14. Ryan Poles, Bears
Whereas football fans like to daydream their team is only one move away from changing everything, the reality is almost always more complicated. “Almost always” because while this is typically a sticks-and-stones business, every once in a single transaction really does change everything. For the Bears, that appears to be GM Ryan Poles’ 2025 hiring of head coach Ben Johnson. It is difficult to overstate Johnson’s impact on this franchise. He not only immediately solved his near-term goal of stabilizing franchise quarterback Caleb Williams, he put the Bears far ahead of schedule on their long-term goal of returning to playoff relevance. It wouldn’t have been possible without Poles’ spring 2025 offensive line spending spree, but you don’t need to be an NFL insider to recognize Johnson’s impact. By definition, things were quieter this offseason, but fan expectations are now so much louder. This is where it needs to be mentioned the Bears overachieved in 2025. They had only the third best point differential in the division they won, and lived off skin-of-their-teeth victories. No one will be surprised if they regress one more time before taking a more permanent step forward. Poles should survive next offseason in that scenario, but life can be tough for unsung GMs opposite hot-shot head coaches. Take Poles’ now former division rival Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s word for it.
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15. Brandon Beane, Bills
The Bills can’t beat the Chiefs. Now they have joined them in seeming unable to fix their intractable problems. For Brandon Beane, that’s been finding playmakers in the passing game and difference makers in free agency. Beane cannot, will not stop signing over-the-hill pass rushers, adding Bradley Chubb to his Von Miller/Joey Bosa lineage this offseason. If that seems rash, it pales in comparison to surrendering a second-rounder for DJ Moore. Moore’s acquisition coupled with former coach Sean McDermott’s firing at least signals a sense of urgency that has seemed strangely lacking in recent years, though in this case “insanely desperate” is probably the more operative phrase. We know having a player like Josh Allen is a gift. We also know it can be a curse in terms of draft capital and flexibility. It isn’t easy to keep a top-flight roster going in spots 2-53. But Beane keeps making it harder than it needs to be, and anything short of an AFC championship figures to make 2026 his last bite at the apple.
16. Jerry Jones/Stephen Jones, Cowboys
By now you know the Cowboys’ roster-building approach. Cobble together an elite core. Alienate half of it, overpay the other. Or at least that was the formula until Jerry Jones blinked last August. Things were going to plan with contract-year superstar Micah Parsons — negotiations: contentious — until Jerry finally met his emotional match. When it became clear the sides’ literal handshake agreement had collapsed under an avalanche of hurt feelings, Jones did what he never does and dealt Parsons to the Packers. Ol’ Jer won whatever argument he was having with himself, but not any more games. After three straight 12-win seasons, the Cowboys are now stuck on back-to-back seven-win campaigns. This being the Cowboys, they somehow blundered into their next franchise defensive player in the draft, Ohio State safety Caleb Downs, but there’s not much difference between this year’s group and last year’s unit. There are a few really good players, a few solid ones, then a whole lot of replacement-level talent. If the elite vanguard can stay healthy, Dallas could return to the playoffs. But actually do something once it’s there? This hasn’t been that kind of roster for quite some time, and it is likely to remain too volatile for however much longer Jones insists on his family calling the personnel shots.
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17. Duke Tobin, Bengals
Duke Tobin has a claim to being the longest-tenured GM in the NFL. Except he’s not even technically the GM. It’s also unclear how involved 90-year-old owner Mike Brown remains in personnel decisions, though head coach Zac Taylor has said he is still a daily presence at team headquarters. It is against the backdrop of that opaque command structure that Tobin turns in some of the most average roster-building you will ever see. He knew to draft Ja’Marr Chase and Joe Burrow. He had the guile — or the orders — to keep disgruntled pass rusher Trey Hendrickson for the unhappy duration of his 2023 contract extension. He … has surely done some other stuff, but not much of it is worth mentioning. It’s been a rough draft decade since those Burrow and Chase home runs, while the Bengals’ free agency focus is short-term solutions. The offensive line likes to rise and fall, but particularly to fall. This would be the case most places, but Tobin’s squad struggles mightily whenever Burrow is sidelined. Tobin is not bad. He’s probably not great. He’s definitely getting desperate, as his offseason trade for Dexter Lawrence attests. With a 90-year-old boss and soon-to-be 30-year-old quarterback, this is a team impatient to “win now.” With Burrow at the controls, it just might do so.
18. James Gladstone, Jaguars
James Gladstone had a gangbusters first year — despite his biggest decisions. Gladstone can’t take credit for hiring Liam Coen, because he arrived one month prior. He can lay claim to trading up for Travis Hunter at No. 2 overall, but the two-way prospect ended up playing just 485 total snaps. Gladstone’s free agent additions along the offensive line were a bust. His defensive add-ons were scarcely better. His mid-season trade for Jakobi Meyers did pay immediate dividends, but also undercut his theory that Hunter would be a two-way star. Then, of course, came this spring’s draft. Lacking a first-rounder after last year’s Hunter trade-up, Gladstone’s first selection was … a blocking tight end who “hasn’t been very productive, turns 25 years old in September and didn’t test well at his pro day.” That was our Connor Rogers, who was being nicer than most of his fellow draftniks. Per the “consensus draft boards,” Gladstone’s weekend only got worse from there (allegedly, of course). The Jags understandably have a little ego after leaping from four to 13 victories. Something special happened in 2025. We will know soon enough if the neophyte general manager had anything to do with it.
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19. Omar Khan, Steelers
More than most teams, the Steelers are an organization. You might get tired of hearing about it, but there really is a “Steeler Way.” That means no coach, quarterback or especially general manager is supposed to overshadow the rest of the operation. That doesn’t always work out — see “Rodgers, Aaron” — but GM Omar Khan has been faithful to the ethos. It could be his undoing. We don’t know if Khan is running back the same tired old playbook by choice or dictate, but this is a roster that needed to be blown up five years ago. That’s bad enough. Even worse, this is no longer a franchise thinking five years into the future. The Steelers had three head coaches from 1969-2025. No club thinks in longer time horizons. That is until Khan and company hired Mike McCarthy. Suddenly, this is a situation being maximized for a 42-year-old quarterback who didn’t even bother to officially sign until May. How much of this is really Khan’s fault is unclear, but then again, he left himself vulnerable to such inertia when he failed to replace Ben Roethlisberger from 2022-24. Khan has not been a disaster. His rosters have a 39-29 record to prove it. But just because the bottom has not fallen out does not mean the ceiling is being adequately supported. Khan’s has a bad leak, and the dripping water is creating mold at the base. No one should be surprised when this house is eventually condemned.
20. Mickey Loomis, Saints
It took longer than any Saints fan wanted, but Mickey Loomis has finally charted a post-Sean Payton future. Now we just need to determine if it’s any good. It certainly felt good down the stretch in 2025, with the Saints finishing 4-1 and finding their 2026 quarterback in Tyler Shough. But December schedules can be deceiving — the Saints bookended Christmas with wins over the top-four picking Titans and Jets — and their final record still read 6-11. This is a roster short on high-end young talent, especially on the defensive side of the ball. It’s a problem of particular concern in New Orleans since second-year head coach Kellen Moore is an offensive mind. With the cavalry not arriving on defense, the entire operation is on Shough and Moore’s shoulders. That approach worked better than expected in 2025, but only because nothing was expected. Now real expectations are back for 2026, and with them, the end of Loomis’ extremely brief offseason honeymoon.
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21. Chris Ballard, Colts
Chris Ballard has been on the job for nine seasons and two Irsays. Not much seems to be changing. Ballard and Carlie Irsay-Gordon certainly thought something was different last November. Sitting at 7-2, they traded a pair of first-round picks for Sauce Gardner. To say the least, that’s bold when your quarterback is Daniel Jones. To the surprise of very few, it ended up too good to be true. Both players ended the year injured and Indy somehow finished below .500 despite an 8-2 start. Life came at the Colts fast, but the process for finding a genuine franchise player will now be painfully slow. Barring something dramatic, they will not be in position to take a first-round quarterback until 2028. This is not a good enough overall roster to make Jones the next Sam Darnold as an unlikely Super Bowl winner. It’s probably not even good enough to win a resurgent AFC South. In other words, it’s what it has been for most of Ballard’s tenure. Neither star-laden nor swimming in depth and without a franchise QB, the Colts remain in the NFL’s shadow zone.
22. Dan Morgan, Panthers
What do you do when you have a questionable quarterback situation? Build out everything else. Although he has used each of his three first-round picks on offensive help for Bryce Young, Dan Morgan is in the middle of a two-year spending spree on defense. The off-field cash infusion led to immediate, massive on-field gains in 2025, with Carolina improving from 32nd to 16th in scoring defense. Morgan has now added EDGE Jaelan Philips and linebacker Devin Lloyd to the mix. Every little bit helps, but there is only so much you can do if you lack a long-term answer under center. For now, Morgan has equivocated when asked if Young will remain with the team following the expiration of his rookie contract. If Young’s year-over-year improvement remains modest or plateaus in 2026, it won’t be because Morgan hasn’t done everything he can to make his life easier. He has used first-round picks on a No. 1 receiver and potential long-term left tackle. He has invested in the backfield and improved the skill player depth. Morgan is making the best of an imperfect situation. That’s all he can do, but sometimes there is nothing you can do to keep your job in the NFL if the quarterback — or owner — doesn’t cooperate.
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23. Andrew Berry, Browns
This kind of exercise lends itself to some interesting uses of the “except” and “were it not for” qualifiers. Were it not for the most morally, financially and competitively bankrupt trade any team has made this decade, Andrew Berry would be regarded in a better light. There are just some moves you can’t live down as a talent evaluator, and the Browns’ Deshaun Watson trade is already the most infamous in recent NFL history. Of course, like Kevin Stefanski and Paul DePodesta before him, Berry benefits from plausible deniability — we don’t know for sure who ordered the Watson code red. Most signs point toward ownership. Speaking of ownership, they seem to be who intervened on last spring’s Shedeur Sanders selection, despite Jimmy Haslam’s protestations to the contrary. Again, plausible deniability for Berry. Is there anything he can affirmatively take credit for? Well, the Browns finally had a full 2025 draft class, and it seems to be one of the best in the league. This year’s group is also looking mighty good on paper. It just all seems to be too little, too late for a franchise with placeholder quarterbacks and likely a placeholder coach in Todd Monken. Berry has survived longer than expected, but his nine lives have to be close to running out.
24. Adam Peters, Commanders
Adam Peters went all in on 2025. He is currently at the lobby ATM getting ready to buy back in. That was a bust of a campaign. There is no way to sugarcoat it. It’s nice to have a young star quarterback, but you probably aren’t going to win the Super Bowl if you lack skill player depth, offensive line depth, backfield depth and high-end defensive talent. Commanders fans can only hope it was a painful but necessary lesson in NFL team-building. There are no shortcuts. That was felt most acutely during April’s draft, where last year’s deficit spending left the Commandos with only two top-100 selections, just one of which came in the top 70. That would be No. 7 overall pick Sonny Styles, a meat-and-potatoes addition that at least showed Peters was no longer under the impression he was one player away. That followed a free agency where he loaded up on regular defensive contributors. Back to basics, you could say. Humbling, but there’s nothing wrong with getting the message. If you’re going to put it all on the table, you better at least have the cards.
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25. Joe Schoen/John Harbaugh, Giants
Joe Schoen found his quarterback. It may cost him his job. Welcome though Jaxson Dart’s addition was, it didn’t lead to any better returns in 2025. That got Brian Daboll fired but was undoubtedly part of the reason John Harbaugh was hired. 63-year-old Harbaugh wasn’t about to go somewhere without a promising quarterback, but he also wasn’t going to report to “Joe Schoen.” Enter a pre-hiring power struggle Schoen decisively lost, with Harbaugh earning final say on personnel matters. The Giants promptly added a boatload of former Ravens, including the punter and fullback. If that had it feeling like a Harbaugh vanity project, the draft’s additions of elite prospects Arvell Reese and Francis Mauigoa has the whole thing on steadier footing. Schoen just doesn’t know if that will include him a year from now, or even three months from now. That he survived draft weekend with his job intact is a sign he will remain through 2026. That gives him the opportunity to form a better rapport with his coach — or buys Harbaugh all the time he needs to find the right replacement.
26. John Spytek, Raiders
Being a general manager is hard enough. Now try doing it when you’re in Las Vegas and your boss lives in Florida. Oh, and he has two jobs. That’s John Spytek’s world, as Tom Brady has finally found someone else to haunt beyond the sports talk radio hosts of Boston, for whom it will always be 2019. Maybe Brady is a peach to work for and the whole thing is overblown, but Spytek is working for him. He has to answer to ownership and the game’s pre-eminent living legend. You could see why this thing wasn’t exactly a Ferrari coming out of the garage last season. Spytek is already on his second head coach, as well as his second quarterback. In Spytek, Brady or whomever’s defense, the second choices in Klint Kubiak and Fernando Mendoza seem much better than last year’s Pete Carroll/Geno Smith pairing. Beyond Mendoza, the Silver and Black had a deep, varied 2026 draft class. Inexplicably, they’ve even gotten a second lease on life with disgruntled defensive linchpin Maxx Crosby, as the superstar pass rusher has returned to the team following his Ravens jilting. (A trade remains possible, or even likely.) Rarely will you see a front office get off to a worse start. Even more rare is the steady bounce-back footing the Raiders find themselves on this offseason.
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27. Mike Borgonzi, Titans
You want your head coach and GM to be on the same page. Ideally, they would be a package deal. The Titans do things a little differently. They prefer blind dates and shotgun weddings. It’s been decades since they had a coach and GM come in together. We’ll call Mike Borgonzi and Robert Saleh close enough. Hired to replace Ran Carthon in 2025, Borgonzi had a roster fresh off earning the No. 1 overall pick and a lame-duck head coach in Brian Callahan. Never mind the fact Callahan had been hired only one year prior. Things went as poorly as you would expect, with the only silver lining being Borgonzi at least now has a better coach in Saleh. He also has a nice 2026 personnel haul, with three top-60 draft picks and a free agent spending spree that included Wan’Dale Robinson and three new starters on defense. Borgonzi has tried to fill out the deck for both Saleh and second-year QB Cam Ward. Respectability, if not relevance, could be within reach. We will know a lot more about Borgonzi’s long-term trajectory this time next year.
28. Monti Ossenfort, Cardinals
Monti Ossenfort is out of excuses. He can no longer blame the quarterback he inherited, nor the first head coach he hired. Absent his Kyler Murray and Jonathan Gannon scapegoats, Ossenfort is left with one of the league’s most talent-bereft rosters, one that is now unquestionably “his” following four draft classes and free agencies. For as legitimate of a concern as Murray he was, he ended up paling in comparison to Ossenfort’s 2025 defense, which allowed a franchise-record 488 points. Ossenfort’s response was … selecting a running back at No. 3 overall. No offense to Jeremiyah Love, but the Cardinals aren’t going to run their way out of this one. Love’s selection came after Ossenfort had previously cultivated a reputation as an early-round drafter of “premium” positions. He was, but they haven’t been very good. LT Paris Johnson has been solid. DL Walter Nolen could one day be something. That’s … about it. With zero quarterback hope on the 2026 horizon — best of luck to Jacoby Brissett and overdrafted third-rounder Carson Beck — Ossenfort probably won’t be back to finish what he is attempting to start with new head coach Mike LaFleur.
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29. Darren Mougey, Jets
Darren Mougey’s one and a half years in charge is not what’s ailing the Jets. Give it time. Although Mougey cannot be blamed for the systemic rot in owner Woody Johnson’s organization, he had no positive additions take root in 2025, save for perhaps No. 7 overall right tackle Armand Membou. Mougey also can’t take the blame for hiring Aaron Glenn since the head coach arrived three days before him. But they are in this together now, and their 2026 “solutions” of signing Geno Smith and hiring offensive coordinator Frank Reich have confirmed this is the most desperate situation in the league. That’s especially true since the two genuine building blocks Mougey did have in CB Sauce Gardner and DL Quinnen Williams have been traded away. Whether it was because Johnson didn’t want to pay up or Mougey wanted the draft capital isn’t terribly relevant. It was a move made thinking 3-4 years into the future, and that’s simply not the time horizon Johnson’s franchise operates on. Mougey needs immediate 2026 results. Even with his admittedly good looking spring draft class, that doesn’t seem possible with the 53-man roster Mougey and his predecessors have assembled.
New Hires (Alphabetical Order)
Ian Cunningham, Falcons
The Falcons are starting over again, this time with a longtime Ravens and Eagles executive. Those are the franchises you want to hire from in the front office, though it must be noted Cunningham’s most recent stop was Chicago. That was looking shaky until Ben Johnson came to town. Cunningham nevertheless worked for a general manager in Ryan Poles who not only convinced the most sought after head-coaching candidate in the league to take the Bears’ job, but also provided him with a good enough roster to reach the Divisional Round in year one. Of course, whether it was Baltimore, Philadelphia or Chicago, Cunningham was probably just a bystander to the biggest decisions. “Bystander” also unfortunately describes his first offseason as Falcons GM. Cunningham lacked a first-round pick thanks to his predecessor’s disastrous James Pearce trade. In free agency, he was mostly limited to roster cleanup and fringe signings. Cunningham has his table-setting season out of the way. We will find out what Ozzie Newsome and Howie Roseman actually taught him next spring.
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Jon-Eric Sullivan, Dolphins
The Packers have had five losing seasons since hiring Ted Thompson in 2005. After Thompson’s unfortunate 2018 retirement due to illness, the transition to Brian Gutekunst was seamless. That’s the long way of saying, it’s a good front office to poach from. This is actually the Dolphins’ second crack at “Packers South” after their ill-fated Joe Philbin dalliance more than a decade ago. This is a more wholesale attempt, with new GM Jon-Eric Sullivan pairing with former Packers DC Jeff Hafley as head coach. A Green Bay chill has already settled over the Dolphins’ front office, with Sullivan employing the Packers’ “volume drafting” approach. Seven draft picks isn’t cool. You know what is cool? 13 draft picks. The Dolphins’ 2026 haul is already 56.5 percent of the way to their pick total from the previous four years. With Tua Tagovailoa’s dead money an anchor around the rest of the roster, free agent forays were limited outside of placeholder quarterback Malik Willis, himself another Packers pilgrim. This kind of NFL imitation rarely leads to flattering results, but no one can claim the Dolphins didn’t need a reset. Sullivan understands the assignment. We’re looking forward to our first results.
Vacant, Vikings
There are a million different ways to lose a general manager job. The easiest? Draft the wrong quarterback. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah made plenty of other mistakes during his four years in charge, but it was his J.J. McCarthy decision that proved fatal. It is difficult to believe coach Kevin O’Connell was blameless in McCarthy’s selection, though it seems one, injury-ruined rookie year was enough for KOC to make up his mind: McCarthy wasn’t it. Adofo-Mensah evidently disagreed, and now you have the one front office in the NFL without a general manager. Although O’Connell undoubtedly holds the most sway for the time being, executive VP “Rob Brzezinski” is apparently also involved. An aging Vikings lifer, Brzezinski is unlikely to be the next man up. Whomever it ends up being will have a strong coach and decent overall roster in place. Maybe McCarthy’s implosion is evidence O’Connell has lost his magic, but it is more likely that KOC’s presence makes this a high-floor, limitless-ceiling position for the person who comes next in the Vikings’ front office.
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