lucky #13 climbing

[rkarp1]

RotoPat’s 2026 NFL GM rankings: Analysis for all 32 teams

Ranking and evaluating the NFL's general managers, including this year's new hires.

www.nbcsports.com

 

[jmt57]

Quite a few names from the Patriots/Belichick tree on this list:

#9 Nick Caserio
2001-2020
Director of player personnel

#12 Jason Licht
1999-2002; 2009-2011
Director of player personnel

#13 Eliot Wolf
2020-present
EVP of player personnel

#24 Adam Peters
2003-2008
Pro scout, Area scout

#28 Monti Ossenfort
2003, 2006-2019
Director of college scouting



Other much looser ties

#4 Erik DeCosta
grew up as a Pats fan in Taunton and at Colby College

#8 John Lynch
spent his last summer as a pro football player in training camp in Foxborough

#10 Sean Payton
never worked with Belichick, but both worked for Bill Parcells

 

[rkarp1]

Licht is kind of a head scratcher
since he was named GM in 2014, the Bucs are well under .500 during his tenure.
other than having Brady for 2 years, would he even be the GM today with out Brady for those 2 years?

 

[jmt57]

Licht is kind of a head scratcher
since he was named GM in 2014, the Bucs are well under .500 during his tenure.
other than having Brady for 2 years, would he even be the GM today with out Brady for those 2 years?

Jerry Jones at #16 and Chris Ballard at #21 deserve to be lower as well.
Odd that the author ranks them that high, then blasts both of them in their bios.

 

[TheRainMaker]

While there are many GM's ranked too high, I'm completely shocked to see Micky Loomis is still the GM of the Saints. I thought they moved on from him a long time ago. Lol.

Eric DeCosta is very overrated, but then I saw Brian Gutekunst 6th on the list. Packers have had awful GM's since Wolf struggled post 1997. They have never found players to put the team over the top during the Favre and Rodgers years. They finally swing for the fences after almost years. However, Parsons ain't that guy.

Reid/Veach should be top 3 by default of their track record since 2019. But I do see they are slipping.

Shanahan and Lynch should have at least 2 Super Bowls, but poor decisions put them in their current situation. They do great finding late gems, but they are awful drafting in the first two rounds since 2019. And I mean AWFUL. Had Purdy not played well in 2022, there were serious rumblings that Shanahan and Lynch were going to be canned.

Although many here hate on Wolf (including myself), he's ranked too low based on the 2 year turn around and Super Bowl birth. How do you seriously put the Chargers GM over him? The Pats have just won more playoff games in one season than the Chargers have in the last 8 years combined.

 

[rkarp1]

While there are many GM's ranked too high, I'm completely shocked to see Micky Loomis is still the GM of the Saints. I thought they moved on from him a long time ago. Lol.

Eric DeCosta is very overrated, but then I saw Brian Gutekunst 6th on the list. Packers have had awful GM's since Wolf struggled post 1997. They have never found players to put the team over the top during the Favre and Rodgers years. They finally swing for the fences after almost years. However, Parsons ain't that guy.

Reid/Veach should be top 3 by default of their track record since 2019. But I do see they are slipping.

Shanahan and Lynch should have at least 2 Super Bowls, but poor decisions put them in their current situation. They do great finding late gems, but they are awful drafting in the first two rounds since 2019. And I mean AWFUL. Had Purdy not played well in 2022, there were serious rumblings that Shanahan and Lynch were going to be canned.

Although many here hate on Wolf (including myself), he's ranked too low based on the 2 year turn around and Super Bowl birth. How do you seriously put the Chargers GM over him?

part of the formula would be draft results, and Wolf is brought down from his 2024 results (even with Maye) trying to recover from the BB mess

 

[Bill Lee]

Licht is kind of a head scratcher
since he was named GM in 2014, the Bucs are well under .500 during his tenure.
other than having Brady for 2 years, would he even be the GM today with out Brady for those 2 years?

I can see both sides of that argument.

They had a pretty good set of talent when Brady, Gronk and Playoff Lenny arrived, and a lot of that is a credit to Licht.

Bringing in Ariens and Bowles were largely his call too, I think.

Yet we'll never know if he would have gotten "over the hump" without Brady.

He also gets "points" for making chicken salad out of chicken sh*t with Baker Mayfield.

Yet chicken salad ain't Coq au Vin, so he's got that in the negative column.

I guess the real question is, who could Tampa bring in better than him?

Tampa is a decent place, but Brady boogied out of town pretty quickly once he decided to hang up the cleats.

Yet there are only 32 GM jobs, so someone would find a way to make it work for the right price.

 

[patfanken]

I think Wolf et al have had a very underrated off season so far. Between FA and the draft, they have addressed pretty much ALL the Pats needs that were identified. Edge, OL, S, CB depth, TE and WR. About the only thing I could see to complain about is the lack of a big name or high pick ILB. Now they did add 2 FA ILB's and a late round draft pick, but these are relative unknowns and their value is unproven, just like a LOT of the guys we signed as FA's in the '25 off season.

Who knows how big the contributions will be from guys Britt, Vildor, Mike Brown, Hill and the late draft pick LB with the unpronounceable name provide. Remember Ninkovitch was a guy who came here looking to make the team as a long snapper. You ever know who will pop and who will not

 

[mgteich]

I think Wolf et al have had a very underrated off season so far. Between FA and the draft, they have addressed pretty much ALL the Pats needs that were identified. Edge, OL, S, CB depth, TE and WR. About the only thing I could see to complain about is the lack of a big name or high pick ILB. Now they did add 2 FA ILB's and a late round draft pick, but these are relative unknowns and their value is unproven, just like a LOT of the guys we signed as FA's in the '25 off season.

Who knows how big the contributions will be from guys Britt, Vildor, Mike Brown, Hill and the late draft pick LB with the unpronounceable name provide. Remember Ninkovitch was a guy who came here looking to make the team as a long snapper. You ever know who will pop and who will not

Q1) EDGE was a weakness last year. Do you think that it will be stronger this year? Unless Landry is 100%, I don't see any improvement. About the same would be OK I guess.

Q2) I suspect that we are just wishing and hoping that the backup ILB's will be able to give us what we had in Gibbens, Tavai and Mapu.

Yes, Belichick had great success in bringing in veterans as backups. We need 2 backups and an emergency 3rd, all of whom play lots of ST's.

We expect that the ST role will be well covered with Britt and Muma. However, none have much experience playing NFL LB.

 

[patfanken]

Q1) EDGE was a weakness last year. Do you think that it will be stronger this year? Unless Landry is 100%, I don't see any improvement. About the same would be OK I guess.

Q2) I suspect that we are just wishing and hoping that the backup ILB's will be able to give us what we had in Gibbens, Tavai and Mapu.

Yes, Belichick had great success in bringing in veterans as backups. We need 2 backups and an emergency 3rd, all of whom play lots of ST's.

We expect that the ST role will be well covered with Britt and Muma. However, none have much experience playing NFL LB.

Yes, and by quite a lot, and specifically in the run game. Both Jacas and Jones will provide much better edge setting than we got from Chassion and give us an improved power rush and probable an equal number of sacks (7-10). We did lose some pure speed rush ability, but I question whether that will lead to less actual rush production.

Also, I think we are all underestimating what a HEALTHY Landry could bring to the Edge rotation. He put up some pretty good numbers when he was healthy early in the season. And I agree with you that we need to add a vet ILB. Milano would be my first choice. It's still 2 Months til camp and there will be a lot of signings happening come June

 

[mgteich]

Yes, and by quite a lot, and specifically in the run game. Both Jacas and Jones will provide much better edge setting than we got from Chassion and give us an improved power rush and probable an equal number of sacks (7-10). We did lose some pure speed rush ability, but I question whether that will lead to less actual rush production.

Also, I think we are all underestimating what a HEALTHY Landry could bring to the Edge rotation. He put up some pretty good numbers when he was healthy early in the season. And I agree with you that we need to add a vet ILB. Milano would be my first choice. It's still 2 Months til camp and there will be a lot of signings happening come June

Thank you.

I am less confident than you that we will be signing significant help at ILB. I certainly hope that you right.

 

[Pape]

Quite a few names from the Patriots/Belichick tree on this list:

#9 Nick Caserio
2001-2020
Director of player personnel

#12 Jason Licht
1999-2002; 2009-2011
Director of player personnel

#13 Eliot Wolf
2020-present
EVP of player personnel

#24 Adam Peters
2003-2008
Pro scout, Area scout

#28 Monti Ossenfort
2003, 2006-2019
Director of college scouting



Other much looser ties

#4 Erik DeCosta
grew up as a Pats fan in Taunton and at Colby College

#8 John Lynch
spent his last summer as a pro football player in training camp in Foxborough

#10 Sean Payton
never worked with Belichick, but both worked for Bill Parcells

could also add

Dave Zeigler formerly Raiders, now asst in Tenn
Bob Quinn, formerly Lions, now adv in Atl

 

[rkarp1]

I am of the opinion Brady wanted to be in Florida, and he brought in Gronk and Lenny (and AB)

I can see both sides of that argument.

They had a pretty good set of talent when Brady, Gronk and Playoff Lenny arrived, and a lot of that is a credit to Licht.

Bringing in Ariens and Bowles were largely his call too, I think.

Yet we'll never know if he would have gotten "over the hump" without Brady.

He also gets "points" for making chicken salad out of chicken sh*t with Baker Mayfield.

Yet chicken salad ain't Coq au Vin, so he's got that in the negative column.

I guess the real question is, who could Tampa bring in better than him?

Tampa is a decent place, but Brady boogied out of town pretty quickly once he decided to hang up the cleats.

Yet there are only 32 GM jobs, so someone would find a way to make it work for the right price.

I am of the opinion Brady wanted to be in Florida and he brought in Gronk and Lenny (and AB)

 

[TommyD4207]

Q1) EDGE was a weakness last year. Do you think that it will be stronger this year? Unless Landry is 100%, I don't see any improvement. About the same would be OK I guess.

Q2) I suspect that we are just wishing and hoping that the backup ILB's will be able to give us what we had in Gibbens, Tavai and Mapu.

Yes, Belichick had great success in bringing in veterans as backups. We need 2 backups and an emergency 3rd, all of whom play lots of ST's.

We expect that the ST role will be well covered with Britt and Muma. However, none have much experience playing NFL LB.

Jacas is better than any EDGE we put on the field last year. Already.

 

[Ross12]

So weird that 75% of the section about Wolf is how Vrabel is getting fired because he might have had an affair. What does that have to do with Wolf's ranking? Feels like this was ghostwritten by Mike Florio.

 

[DaBruinz]

Yes, and by quite a lot, and specifically in the run game. Both Jacas and Jones will provide much better edge setting than we got from Chassion and give us an improved power rush and probable an equal number of sacks (7-10). We did lose some pure speed rush ability, but I question whether that will lead to less actual rush production.

I'm going to disagree with you that the Pats lost some pure speed rush ability. Jacas as as much "pure speed rush" ability as Jacas. Jacas has a better rounded game and can rush using either speed or power. Where I think he is actually better equipped is how he addresses the game. Chaisson was a one trick pony using speed. Jacas will use speed moves and power moves to set up OTs and TEs to beat them regularly.

I think that Dre'Mont Jones is going to be a nice addition to help take the load off Landry. And don't forget that Ponder has a year under his belt and was he's almost a pure speed rusher like Chaisson. I expect him to jump up to 400+ pass rushing snaps this year on defense while Landry's pass rushing snaps get lessened down to about 300 or fewer..

Also, I think we are all underestimating what a HEALTHY Landry could bring to the Edge rotation. He put up some pretty good numbers when he was healthy early in the season. And I agree with you that we need to add a vet ILB. Milano would be my first choice. It's still 2 Months til camp and there will be a lot of signings happening come June

Milano would not be my first choice. My 1st choice would be Okereke. Okereke has only missed 8 of a possible 118 games in his 7 year career. Milano has missed 30 games just in the last 3 years.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Jacas has as much "pure speed rush" ability as Jacas.

I have to agree with you on that point.

 

[patfanken]

I'm going to disagree with you that the Pats lost some pure speed rush ability. Jacas as as much "pure speed rush" ability as Jacas. Jacas has a better-rounded game and can rush using either speed or power. Where I think he is actually better equipped is how he addresses the game. Chaisson was a one trick pony using speed. Jacas will use speed moves and power moves to set up OTs and TEs to beat them regularly.

Jacas is my favorite draft pick and probably the only pick that will contribute immediately. However, the fact that I don't consider him a "speed" rusher is not necessarily a bad thing. Chassion was a one trick pony who played well, but was a liability in the run game. He was decent in applying immediate pressure but didn't have the strength and countermoves to actually consistently beat NFL tackles. He was a good guy to have in your rotation, but not as the focus of your rush. I consider BOTH Jacas and Jones as upgrades over him in OVEWRALL defensive production. Both will likely give us the 8 sacks Chassion had but he assets in the run game and not liabilities. So, I really don't where we "disagree". I think the only difference here is I don't see Jacas as one of those pure speed edge rushers like say RMason Thomas. Where you do. I see him as more like a quicker Jones

I think that Dre'Mont Jones is going to be a nice addition to help take the load off Landry. And don't forget that Ponder has a year under his belt and was he's almost a pure speed rusher like Chaisson. I expect him to jump up to 400+ pass rushing snaps this year on defense while Landry's pass rushing snaps get lessened down to about 300 or fewer..

I hesitate to predict snap counts on Landry until we see how he looks after coming back from his injury, though, if healthy, I think he could have more of an impact if he comes back as the same guy we saw in the first 5 games of the season.

Milano would not be my first choice. My 1st choice would be Okereke. Okereke has only missed 8 of a possible 118 games in his 7 year career. Milano has missed 30 games just in the last 3 years.

I'm fine with Okereke and would have mentioned him, but I didn't want to have to look him up to be able to correctly spell his name.

 

[Bill Lee]

I am of the opinion Brady wanted to be in Florida, and he brought in Gronk and Lenny (and AB)

Fair enough. We do know about that chat he had on the boat in Miami. I also think he wanted to be in SF, but they chose that MFer over him. So, I guess Tampa was as close as he could get to Miami under the circumstances.

And, re-reading my post, it is pretty clear that while Tampa was on the way up, my vote is they don't get a SB without Brady and the other players he got to join him, so Licht is one lucky MFer.

 

[Wozzy]

Fair enough. We do know about that chat he had on the boat in Miami. I also think he wanted to be in SF, but they chose that MFer over him. So, I guess Tampa was as close as he could get to Miami under the circumstances.

And, re-reading my post, it is pretty clear that while Tampa was on the way up, my vote is they don't get a SB without Brady and the other players he got to join him, so Licht is one lucky MFer.

His wife wanted to be in Florida, she wanted to be close to her karate instructor. And I agree with you entirely. If Tom chose Miami or the Raiders he doesn’t sniff another Super Bowl.

Tampa had the best defense and one of the best OLines… besides having the best collection of weapons in the NFL prior to Gronk joining them.

Tampa made the playoffs two out of the last three years, they’re not doing too bad.