This is the 16th year I’ve done a future general managers list, an exercise that is always enlightening and educational (and, to be honest, a little exhausting).
The one question I get every year: How many jobs are actually going to be open?
It’s asked by those in football who help me assemble the list. It’s a way of saying that there won’t be many GM openings—because there rarely are—so there can’t be that many guys who are actually close to getting a job. And it’s a fair point.
So with that in mind, this year, I figured we’d give you two lists. One will be “on the doorstep,” guys who I believe will be in play for any opening, depending on what teams with such openings are looking for. The second will be “closing in,” full of names that you should get to know, if you’re interested in this stuff.
And as always, I’d point out that this list is for first-time GM candidates. There are a lot of guys, such as Ryan Grigson, Dave Ziegler, Jon Robinson, Thomas Dimitroff, Brian Gaine and George Kokonis (off the top of my head), who I think would do really well if they got a second chance. Also, as we said last year, there are guys on the ops side now—such as the Rams’ Tony Pastoors, the Lions’ Mike Disner and the Panthers’ Brandt Tilis—who are more or less on an even plane with GMs, that I didn’t include.
O.K., so here it goes …
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Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham
Cunningham’s pedigree, having worked under Ozzie Newsome in Baltimore then Howie Roseman in Philly, is tough to match and he’s been on the precipice of landing a GM role the last couple offseasons. Though his background is as a college scout, he’s basically worked in every facet of personnel in Chicago, overseeing the Bears’ sports performance, I.T., analytics and player engagement departments under the football operations umbrella, while also leading draft and free agent meetings. And now that the Bears are winning, and he’s shown an ability to adjust to a new coaching staff, he should be in demand.
Colts assistant GM Ed Dodds
There are few questions on Dodds’s ability to work the college scouting trail, or evaluate players—he was once a key piece of John Schneider’s staff in building a champion with the Pete Carroll Seahawks, and he’s been in on just about every decision that Chris Ballard has made in Indy over the last nine years. That respect has been reflected in the number of teams that have shown interest in him. He was a finalist for the Tennessee job last year. If you’re looking for an old-school scout who’ll be blunt and honest about your team to do the job, Dodds is your guy.
Bills assistant GM Terrance Gray
Gray’s on the doorstep, having interviewed for the Raiders, Chargers, Jaguars and Titans jobs over the last two cycles. He made it to the final round in Tennessee last year. Gray rose on the college scouting side in Minnesota, working under Rick Spielman and Broncos GM George Paton there, before Brandon Beane brought him to Buffalo to be college scouting director in 2017. Alongside fellow assistant GM Brian Gaine, Gray is one of Beane’s top guys, earning a seat in the room for every big decision, from draft picks, to free-agent signings, to extensions, roster machinations and everything in between. He’s also had a direct line to ownership, working with the Pegulas, which should be valuable experience whenever he gets his shot.
Eagles assistant GM Alec Halaby
Halaby may be as true of a protégé of Roseman as any who has come from the Philadelphia pipeline—a whip-smart resource who’s earned his place as a close confidant of the Super Bowl–winning GM. Halaby has more of a pure analytics background than anyone on this list, but has had to integrate that into the work scouts have done. That, and his Harvard education, make him attractive to a wide swath of owners.
Packers VP of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan
Sullivan’s name has gained steam of late. He was a finalist in Tennessee last year, and has recently been linked to the open job in Miami. Sullivan is the son of long-time NFL receivers coach Jerry Sullivan, and that background has made him a great resource for Green Bay GM Brian Gutekunst, with his ability to marry player evaluation with specific systems. He also was a part of the process of identifying Matt LaFleur in the team’s 2019 coaching search, was a key voice in drafting Jordan Love, and is alongside Gutekunst for all the Packers’ big decisions.
Lions assistant GM Ray Agnew
Agnew’s been a big brother to a lot of folks in the business, and that probably foreshadows the problem he’s had pursuing a job—he’s 58 years old. If you can get around that, hiring Agnew would mean bringing aboard a guy who has experience in a lot of different ways. He was a player, a team pastor, a player development director and then a pro scouting director over the last 35 years, and has a great feel for what a team needs and how a culture is built. Given what Detroit’s built, there should, at some point, be an uptick in interest in him.
Detroit Lions assistant general manager Ray Agnew (left) has a wealth of experience in the NFL at a variety of positions. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
49ers VP of player personnel Tariq Ahmad
Having gotten his start as a recruiting staffer at Rutgers, Ahmad initially came to the Niners in Jim Harbaugh’s first year and has worked his way up since. Most of his experience has been on the college side, but of late he’s split his time on the college trail with also serving in-house on the pro side. A grinder, and a high-capacity, high-level thinker, his level of organization has those around him thinking he’d be a natural running his own shop. He’s one of a few guys who could get looks in the Niners scouting department (senior exec Ethan Waugh is another one, who could be seen in a different light given what the Jaguars team he helped build has done).
Chargers assistant GM Chad Alexander
Another one from the Ravens scouting pipeline, Joe Douglas initially plucked Alexander for the Jets, and two years ago Joe Hortiz then poached him from his old friend Douglas and made him an assistant GM in L.A.. He’s known for being an excellent evaluator who builds relationships with his coaches and helps to work toward their big-picture view of a team. What the Chargers have done in the face of so many injuries this year, too, is another notch on his belt.
Ravens director of player personnel Mark Azevedo
Azevedo’s initial connection to the Ravens was through his shared alma mater with GM Eric DeCosta—both played at Division III Colby in Maine. He landed in Baltimore in 2005, and like so many others who’ve become GMs, steadily worked his way up, gaining experience on both the college and pro sides along the way. When Hortiz left for the Chargers, Azevedo moved into an elevated role that pushed him closer to the decision-making process, which is essential to becoming a GM.
Seahawks VP of player acquisition Matt Berry
Berry actually predates Schneider in Seattle, and came up as a key college scout for the Seahawks GM, eventually growing to a point where he’s become integral in setting the draft board and served eight years as college scouting director. He was promoted last year and now works with long-time, respected exec Trent Kirchner to coordinate the pro and college scouting departments in Seattle. The team’s recent surge under new coach Mike Macdonald should help him a year after the Titans interviewed him for their GM job.
Chiefs assistant GM Mike Bradway
Bradway has become a rising star in the industry, starting under Roseman in Philly before Chiefs GM Brett Veach tapped into his Eagle roots to bring him over to Kansas City eight years ago (the two worked together there from 2008 to ’13). In the time since, after spending most of his time in Philly on the college side, he went from assistant director of player personnel to senior director of personnel to, last year after Mike Borgonzi left for Tennessee, assistant GM. Veach’s top lieutenant also has the bloodlines, as the son of well-liked and respected former Jets GM Terry Bradway.
Browns assistant GM Glenn Cook
Cleveland’s had a couple tough years, but Cook’s been there for a decade, and helped build a very good roster (albeit one that was undermined by the trade for Deshaun Watson). The former linebacker for the Miami Hurricanes has interviewed for a handful of jobs already, and has worked in a very forward-thinking environment that blends advanced scouting methods with traditional player evaluation. He learned the business under Bill Polian in Indy and Ted Thompson in Green Bay, and would be a candidate for another promotion in Cleveland if the Browns restructure their front office (and move Andrew Berry into an elevated role).
Patriots VP of player personnel Ryan Cowden
He followed Mike Vrabel to New England, after two years under Joe Schoen with the Giants—and has since helped orchestrate a mind-bending Patriots turnaround alongside de facto GM Eliot Wolf. Cowden’s voice has been invaluable in helping bring Vrabel’s vision to life, as the personnel department overhauled the roster around star quarterback Drake Maye. Cowden is widely seen by those who’ve worked with him as an elite talent evaluator. If a team in the Southeast like the Falcons or the Dolphins come calling, it’d be pretty easy to see a fit for a guy who’s spent most of his career with the Panthers and Titans.
Ryan Cowden has helped the Patriots quickly turn their situation around in the first year of Mike Vrabel’s tenure as head coach. / George Walker IV/The Tennessean-Imagn Images
Buccaneers assistant GM Mike Greenberg
Greenberg’s background is on the cap side, but over the last few years he and since-departed John Spytek, now the Raiders GM, became Jason Licht’s closest confidants, which exposed Greenberg to every area of the operation. He also showed an ability to pivot in setting the team’s cap up without any debt, which allowed the team to turn and build aggressively after landing Tom Brady in 2020. And since Brady retired, Greenberg’s helped engineer a youth movement, infusing the roster with a bevy of draft picks that have formed a new core around Baker Mayfield, with a clean cap and the team set to play for a fifth straight division title this weekend.
Packers director of football operations Milt Hendrickson
He, like Agnew, is older, but is one who is continually raised as one of the NFL’s premier scouts, and he’s now in the role that John Dorsey held for a lot of years in Green Bay, after coming over from Baltimore in 2019. All told, Hendrickson has two decades of experience in NFL personnel departments, and that’s on top of the foundation he got earlier in his career as a college coach.
Bears senior director of player personnel Jeff King
King got into scouting in his mid-30s, so he had a bit of a late start after a nine-year career as an NFL tight end. His background is in pro scouting, but he’s diversified since Ryan Poles came aboard in 2022, and he’s earned the respect of the coaches he works with—Ben Johnson included—with the vision for a team to pursue players that fit.
Texans assistant GM James Liipfert
If you want a look at Liipfert’s résumé, just check Houston’s roster. It’s stocked full of second-, third- and fourth-round picks (this year alone, that’s Aireontae Ersery, Jaylin Noel, Jayden Higgins and Woody Marks) who are outplaying their draft positions and giving the Texans perhaps the NFL’s deepest well of talent. Liipfert, who worked with Houston GM Nick Caserio and originally was brought to the franchise by Bill O’Brien, has a heavy background on the college side, and has run Houston’s draft meetings for years. He was also part of Caserio’s patient, measured plan that stuck through lean years to create a sustainable team—one that looks like it’ll contend for seasons to come. The Falcons GM job, if it opens, could be an interesting landing spot for the Georgia native.
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Ravens VP of football administration Nick Matteo
Now in his seventh year with Baltimore, Matteo is another rising young exec on the operations side who has a background working at the league office, and has become a vital piece of DeCosta’s department. As a point man in negotiations who brings intimate knowledge of football analytics (the Ravens have their own proprietary systems), Matteo could be appealing to an owner looking for a new age setup at a GM, or into the type of role that Mike Disner has in Detroit, Brandt Tilis has in Carolina or Tony Pastoors has with the Rams.
Rams assistant GM John McKay
An NFL double-legacy (his dad is Falcons exec Rich McKay, his grandfather is the legendary John McKay), McKay was promoted last year from pro scouting director to assistant GM. And where Rams GM Les Snead’s department has been raided the way you’d might expect over the last decade, the success of Brad Holmes in Detroit and now James Gladstone in Jacksonville could have folks taking a closer look in Los Angeles for names. McKay initially worked at the league office, then came up on the pro-scouting side in L.A. And since so many of Snead’s people work remotely, McKay being in-house has allowed him to be there for a lot of the biggest decisions over the last few years.
Commanders assistant GM Lance Newmark
Before I had Newmark on the list, I’d get comments from road scouts—“What about Lance in Detroit?” And so last year, he made his debut as a top-notch evaluator who’s got a good way about him that would likely translate to running his own team. Yes, the Commanders were a bit down this year. But Dan Quinn and Adam Peters have quickly flipped the roster and pulled every lever—free agency, trades, and the draft—to get competitive as quickly as possible with a lot of outside-the-box thinking. And that, for Newmark, was coming off the Dan Campbell/Brad Holmes build in Detroit, which was done in more of a draft-and-develop way. All of it gives Newmark a nice range of experience to take with him should he land a GM job somewhere.
Lance Newmark (right) has developed a reputation as an excellent evaluator alongside Commanders GM Adam Peters (right). / John McDonnell/For The Washington Post via Getty Images
Saints VP of pro personnel Michael Parenton
The Saints had a late-season resurgence the last few weeks, and that’s in large part because young players on that roster, like Tyler Shough and Chris Olave and a slew of linemen, came along. And because New Orleans GM Mickey Loomis has a smaller department, younger guys coming up like Parenton get to see so much of how the sausage is being made. The former Tulane offensive lineman may be a couple years away, but a lot of respected people think highly of him.
Bengals assistant GM Mike Potts
I’ve mentioned Trey Brown and Steve Radicevic, the other two promoted to assistant GM last year, as good names—and now it’s Potts’ turn. All three are very capable, even despite a couple frustrating years in Cincinnati for Duke Tobin and his staff. Potts has long been the linchpin of the Bengals’ college scouting operation, and really has to get his hands dirty, because of the small size of Tobin’s group. In doing so, he’s earned the respect of so many in the scouting community. And as is the case with Brown and Radicevic, these guys all get to work in all facets of the roster-building process.
Chiefs assistant GM Chris Shea
Like Bradway, Shea was promoted to assistant GM after Borgonzi departed for Tennessee. And his background is fascinating. Early in his career, he toggled back and forth between scouting and cap, and even spent a couple years on the league office’s management council. He had a hybrid role for the Eagles for two years before 2017 when he jumped to Kansas City, where he’s primarily worked on the cap/operations side. And since Tilis left for Carolina two years ago, Shea’s taken Tilis’s old role as the lead guy in roster-building strategy. Bottom line, few have worn as many hats as Shea has.
Seahawks assistant GM Nolan Teasley
Another one who got a bit of a late start—he was an intern for Schneider at 30 years old in 2013—Teasley became one of the club’s most valued voices on the pro-scouting side, and was promoted last year into the No. 2 role in personnel. And given the Seahawks’ resurgence under Macdonald, and Teasley’s part in the roster reset after the Russell Wilson trade, it’s pretty easy to see where he’d get a look. What others will find, those in Seattle would tell you, is a highly-organized worker who’s seen every piece of how Schneider does the job.
Steelers assistant GM Andy Weidl
Another product of the Ozzie Newsome School of Scouting, Weidl and Douglas worked hip-to-hip for years (first in Baltimore, then Philly)—and Douglas once tried to bring Weidl to the Jets to be his No. 2. It didn’t happen, so this gifted scout, who cut his teeth on the college trail, had to wait a little longer to get the sort of role he now serves with the Steelers, where he more or less runs the scouting operation for general manager Omar Khan.
Packers director of player personnel Richmond Williams
Williams played at a high level, as a former Iowa corner, and has continued to climb the ladder in Green Bay, first in college scouting under the former GM Thompson, and more recently on the pro side under Gutekunst. He’s got an easy leadership style—and easily could jump closer to the top of this list if Sullivan gets a shot somewhere else (and he moves up another rung).
49ers director of scouting and football operation Josh Williams
Williams got to the NFL on the ground floor with the Jim Harbaugh Niners in 2011, and has been with the organization since. He was a pro scout first, then moved over to the college side, where he ascended into a national scout role in ’22. After that, the Columbia alum made a big jump into a director’s role where helps run the team’s pro and college scouting and player development departments, as well as its contract negotiations. He may still be a year or two away, though his ties to Mike McDaniel could give him a very real shot in Miami, should the Dolphins decide to go forward with McDaniel.
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