The NFL’s 2025 HC carousel brought five new sideline leaders; this year’s GM market eventually featured four new hires. Two teams made quick-trigger decisions involving front office bosses this offseason.
Not long after the Raiders fired Antonio Pierce, they booted Tom Telesco — brought in to give the inexperienced HC a seasoned GM — after just one season. New minority owner Tom Brady, who certainly appears to have downplayed his Raiders role in a recent interview, wanted a fresh start. That meant firing Telesco despite the GM’s Brock Bowers draft choice last year. John Spytek, an ex-Brady Michigan teammate who was with the Buccaneers when the team signed the QB icon, replaced him. Formerly the Chargers’ front office boss, Telesco had entered every season in a GM chair since 2013.
Ran Carthon received two years in charge in Tennessee, but owner Amy Adams Strunk — a year after the surprise Mike Vrabel firing — moved on and arranged an interesting power structure this offseason. The Titans installed Chad Brinker, who had been one of Carthon’s two assistant GMs, as president of football operations. The ex-Carthon lieutenant holds final say over new hire Mike Borgonzi, who did run the Titans’ draft this year. Borgonzi, who interviewed for the Jets’ GM job as well, comes over after a lengthy Chiefs tenure.
The in-season Joe Douglas firing brought a Jets GM change for the first time in six years. As Woody Johnson overreach became a regular talking point in New York, the Jets started over with Darren Mougey. Johnson changed up his workflow upon hiring Mougey, however. Rather than the GM directly reporting to the owner (as Douglas had), both Mougey and Aaron Glenn will do so. Mougey, though, does control the roster.
Telesco’s January firing left Trent Baalke as the NFL’s lone second-chance GM. The Jaguars had kept Baalke despite firing Doug Pederson, but as the team’s coaching search brought significant concerns from candidates about the presence of the resilient GM, Shad Khan eventually made a change. This move came after top HC candidate Liam Coen initially turned down a second interview, doing so after Ben Johnson concerns about the situation circulated. Gladstone is now in place as the NFL’s youngest GM, at 34, coming over from the Rams.
This offseason also brought three GM extensions — for Jason Licht, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Omar Khan. Licht is heading into his 12th season at the helm. Adofo-Mensah joined Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell in being extended this offseason. Also a 2022 GM hire/promotion, Khan signed a Steelers extension this week.
Although Jerry Jones and Mike Brown have been in place longer, the Cowboys and Bengals’ owners hold de facto GM titles. Mickey Loomis is not only the longest-tenured pure GM in the NFL; the Saints boss trails only Hall of Famer Tex Schramm as the longest-tenured pure GM in NFL history. Hired four years before Sean Payton in New Orleans, Loomis heads into his 24th season at the controls. Loomis hired his third HC as a GM (Kellen Moore) in February.
Here is how long every GM has been in place across the NFL:
- Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys): April 18, 1989[1]
- Mike Brown (Cincinnati Bengals): August 5, 1991[2]
- Mickey Loomis (New Orleans Saints): May 14, 2002
- John Schneider (Seattle Seahawks): January 19, 2010; signed extension in 2021
- Howie Roseman (Philadelphia Eagles): January 29, 2010[3]; signed extension in 2022
- Les Snead (Los Angeles Rams): February 10, 2012; signed extension in 2022
- Jason Licht (Tampa Bay Buccaneers): January 21, 2014; signed extension in 2025
- Chris Grier (Miami Dolphins): January 4, 2016[4]
- John Lynch (San Francisco 49ers): January 29, 2017; signed extension in 2023
- Chris Ballard (Indianapolis Colts): January 30, 2017; signed extension in 2021
- Brandon Beane (Buffalo Bills): May 9, 2017; signed extension in 2023
- Brett Veach (Kansas City Chiefs): July 11, 2017; signed extension in 2024
- Brian Gutekunst (Green Bay Packers): January 7, 2018; agreed to extension in 2022
- Eric DeCosta (Baltimore Ravens): January 7, 2019
- Andrew Berry (Cleveland Browns): January 27, 2020; signed extension in 2024
- Nick Caserio (Houston Texans): January 5, 2021
- George Paton (Denver Broncos): January 13, 2021
- Brad Holmes (Detroit Lions): January 14, 2021; agreed to extension in 2024
- Terry Fontenot (Atlanta Falcons): January 19, 2021
- Joe Schoen (New York Giants): January 21, 2022
- Ryan Poles (Chicago Bears): January 25, 2022
- Kwesi Adofo-Mensah (Minnesota Vikings): January 26, 2022; signed extension in 2025
- Omar Khan (Pittsburgh Steelers): May 24, 2022; signed extension in 2025
- Monti Ossenfort (Arizona Cardinals): January 16, 2023
- Adam Peters (Washington Commanders): January 12, 2024
- Dan Morgan (Carolina Panthers): January 22, 2024
- Joe Hortiz (Los Angeles Chargers): January 29, 2024
- Eliot Wolf (New England Patriots): May 11, 2024
- Mike Borgonzi (Tennessee Titans): January 17, 2025
- John Spytek (Las Vegas Raiders): January 22, 2025
- Darren Mougey (New York Jets): January 24, 2025
- James Gladstone (Jacksonville Jaguars): February 21, 2025
Footnotes:
- Jones has been the Cowboys’ de facto general manager since former GM Tex Schramm resigned in April 1989.
- Brown has been the Bengals’ de facto GM since taking over as the team’s owner in August 1991.
- The Eagles bumped Roseman from the top decision-making post in 2015, giving Chip Kelly personnel power. Roseman was reinstated upon Kelly’s December 2015 firing.
- Although Grier was hired in 2016, he became the Dolphins’ top football exec on Dec. 31, 2018
The top three are horrible, but likely to be there as long as they live.
I’ll be honest, the top three may be terrible, but they account for 4 Super Bowl rings
Not bad for 91 years of football
It has always been my understanding that all the trades and drafts that led to the Cowboys’ success in the 90s all came from Jimmy Johnson. Even if that is not true, Jerry’s world has been mediocre at best for 25 years. He’s good at getting on TV and keeping his team in the news; that’s about it.
The Cowboys are one of those teams that don’t need to be good every hear (from a business standpoint). They still get plenty of media attention and primetime games no matter how bad they are.
Yes! And of those 4 rings, 0 are from Mike Brown! =)
But I do agree. Jerry’s Cowboys haven’t won in almost 30yrs, and he still thinks he’s a good GM lol.
And Loomis has put the Saints in cap hell with no end in sight.
I’m pretty much convinced that Sean Payton is making all the major decisions in Denver and that Patton’s job is just to nod in agreement tell Sean how smart he is.
Same at LA Chargers. Jim H making all the personnel calls there.
If the Bears don’t show significant improvement this season, Poles will be looking for work.
I’d pay good money to watch the Bears interview Unclemike 🙂
Feels like Licht been there longer.
Howie lost power after the Chip Kelly stuff and was able to bounce back but basicallyhad gm title only.
These guys have to hang onto their jobs because they rarely get second or third chances, just ask Jerry Reese.
We will see if Brinker and Borgonzi get along with the Titans. It may not matter with Stunk being one of the worst owners in football. They wont get a third season unless this team can get to ten wins this year or next. Callahan will probably be gone after this season. We will see if a talent-poor defense can save his job. I know they had to get a QB but Abdul Carter could have pumped up the crowd.
Loomis and Schneider have brought in talent but the coaching–including Payton and Carroll–has underachieved. The fans may not agree. Surprised Berry got extended. They should have kept Flacco last season. I think the defense gave up with Watson at QB …
Jones and Brown really shouldn’t count, as there is no one that can fire them.
Way to start off the list with the top two.
Jerry does it because he thinks he knows football. Mike Brown does it because he wants to save money lol.
The list really starts with Loomis.
I said as a non-Saints fan a long time ago that the last thing I would have done in 2020 was give Kamara an extension. I would have traded him because i don’t think anybody would have disagreed that the Saints would have received at least 2 1st round picks in return for him plus more. Take a year or 2 of cap hits and reboot. Instead, it’s been cap hell ever since.
Yet the top person has 3 SB titles
In spite of him.
The Raiders used to tout their Commitment to Excellence.
Chris Grier has handcrafted the Dolphins Commitment to Irrelevance
That meant firing Telesco despite the GM’s Brock Bowers draft choice last year.
==================
That was alomst a default pick. He was mocked as high as #5. We just got lucky with the 6 QBs and some WRs.