Longest-Tenured GMs In The NFL
When we ran down the longest-tenured head coaches in the NFL, we found that less than half of the league’s current coaches have been in their positions for more than three years. That’s not quite the case with general managers, but there have been plenty of changes in recent years.
A handful of general managers have gotten to take their coats off and stay for a long while. Among coaches, Bill Belichick had joined his team prior to 2003. Here, you’ll see that five GMs have been with their teams since before ’03 (Belichick, of course, is also on this list). Two of those five – Jerry Jones and Mike Brown – are outliers, since they’re team owners and serve as de facto GMs. But the Patriots, Steelers, and Saints, have all had the same general managers making their roster decisions for well over a decade.
Here’s the complete list of the NFL’s longest-tenured GMs, along with the date they took over the job:
- Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys): April 18, 1989[1]
- Mike Brown (Cincinnati Bengals): August 5, 1991[2]
- Bill Belichick (New England Patriots): January 27, 2000[3]
- Kevin Colbert (Pittsburgh Steelers): February 18, 2000[4]
- Mickey Loomis (New Orleans Saints): May 14, 2002
- Rick Spielman (Minnesota Vikings): May 30, 2006[5]
- Thomas Dimitroff (Atlanta Falcons): January 13, 2008
- John Schneider (Seattle Seahawks): January 19, 2010[6]
- Howie Roseman (Philadelphia Eagles): January 29, 2010
- John Elway (Denver Broncos): January 5, 2011[7]
- Les Snead (St. Louis Rams): February 10, 2012
- David Caldwell (Jacksonville Jaguars): January 8, 2013
- Steve Keim (Arizona Cardinals): January 8, 2013
- Tom Telesco (San Diego Chargers): January 9, 2013
- Jason Licht (Tampa Bay Buccaneers): January 21, 2014
- Ryan Pace (Chicago Bears): January 8, 2015
- Chris Grier (Miami Dolphins): January 4, 2016
- Bob Quinn (Detroit Lions): January 8, 2016
- Jon Robinson (Tennessee Titans): January 14, 2016
- John Lynch (San Francisco 49ers): January 29, 2017
- Chris Ballard (Indianapolis Colts): January 30, 2017
- Brandon Beane (Buffalo Bills): May 9, 2017
- Brett Veach (Kansas City Chiefs): July 11, 2017
- Marty Hurney (Carolina Panthers): July 19, 2017
- Dave Gettleman (New York Giants): December 28, 2017
- Brian Gutekunst (Green Bay Packers): January 7, 2018
- Mike Mayock (Oakland Raiders): December 31, 2018
- Joe Douglas (New York Jets): June 7, 2019
- Eric DeCosta (Baltimore Ravens): January 7, 2019[8]
- Ron Rivera (Washington Redskins): January 1, 2020[9]
- Andrew Berry (Cleveland Browns): January 27, 2020
- Bill O’Brien (Houston Texans): January 28, 2020
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.
- Belichick has been the Patriots’ de facto GM since shortly after being hired as the team’s head coach in January 2000.
- Colbert was initially hired as the team’s director of football operations and received the newly-created general manager title in 2011.
- Spielman was initially hired as the team’s VP of player personnel and received the GM title in 2012.
- While Schneider holds the title of GM, head coach Pete Carroll has the final say on roster moves for the Seahawks.
- Elway was initially hired as the team’s executive VP of football operations and received the GM title in 2014.
- In 2018, the Ravens announced that DeCosta would replace Ozzie Newsome as GM for Ozzie Newsome after the conclusion of the season. The Ravens’ ’18 season ended with their Wild Card loss to the Chargers on 1/6/19.
- Technically, the Redskins do not have a GM, as of this writing. Rivera is, effectively, their GM, working in tandem with Vice President of Player Personnel Kyle Smith. Smith may receive the GM title in the near future.
Longest-Tenured Head Coaches In The NFL
Things move fast in today’s NFL and the old adage of “coaches are hired to be fired” has seemingly never been more true. For the most part, teams change their coaches like they change their underwear. 
A head coach can take his team to the Super Bowl, or win the Super Bowl, or win multiple Super Bowls, but they’re never immune to scrutiny. Just ask Tom Coughlin, who captured his second ring with the Giants after the 2011 season, only to receive his pink slip after the 2015 campaign.
There are also exceptions. Just look at Bill Belichick, who just wrapped up his 20th season at the helm in New England. You’ll also see a few others on this list, but, for the most part, most of today’s NFL head coaches are relatively new to their respective clubs. And, history dictates that many of them will be elsewhere when we check in on this list in 2022.
Over one-third (12) of the NFL’s head coaches have coached no more than one season with their respective teams. Meanwhile, less than half (15) have been with their current clubs for more than three years. It seems like just yesterday that the Cardinals hired Kliff Kingsbury, right? It sort of was – Kingsbury signed on with the Cardinals in January of 2019. Today, he’s practically a veteran.
Here’s the list of the current head coaches in the NFL, ordered by tenure, along with their respective start dates:
- Bill Belichick (New England Patriots): January 27, 2000
- Sean Payton (New Orleans Saints): January 18, 2006
- Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers): January 27, 2007
- John Harbaugh (Baltimore Ravens): January 19, 2008
- Pete Carroll (Seattle Seahawks): January 9, 2010
- Andy Reid (Kansas City Chiefs): January 4, 2013
- Bill O’Brien (Houston Texans): January 2, 2014
- Mike Zimmer (Minnesota Vikings): January 15, 2014
- Dan Quinn (Atlanta Falcons): February 2, 2015
- Doug Pederson (Philadelphia Eagles): January 18, 2016
- Sean McDermott (Buffalo Bills): January 11, 2017
- Doug Marrone (Jacksonville Jaguars): December 19, 2016 (interim; permanent since 2017)
- Anthony Lynn (Los Angeles Chargers): January 12, 2017
- Sean McVay (Los Angeles Rams): January 12, 2017
- Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco 49ers): February 6, 2017
- Matt Nagy (Chicago Bears): January 7, 2018
- Matt Patricia (Detroit Lions): February 5, 2018
- Frank Reich (Indianapolis Colts): February 11, 2018
- Jon Gruden (Las Vegas Raiders): January 6, 2018
- Mike Vrabel (Tennessee Titans): January 20, 2018
- Kliff Kingsbury (Arizona Cardinals): January 8, 2019
- Zac Taylor (Cincinnati Bengals): February 4, 2019
- Vic Fangio (Denver Broncos): January 10, 2019
- Matt LaFleur (Green Bay Packers): January 8, 2019
- Brian Flores (Miami Dolphins): February 4, 2019
- Adam Gase (New York Jets): January 11, 2019
- Bruce Arians (Tampa Bay Buccaneers): January 8, 2019
- Ron Rivera (Washington Redskins): January 1, 2020
- Matt Rhule (Carolina Panthers): January 7, 2020
- Mike McCarthy (Dallas Cowboys): January 7, 2020
- Joe Judge (New York Giants): January 8, 2020
- Kevin Stefanski (Cleveland Browns): January 13, 2020
Falcons To Reopen Facilities
The Falcons will reopen their facilities on Tuesday, per a club announcement. Many more teams are expected to follow suit after Roger Goodell gave the greenlight on Saturday. 
[RELATED: NFL To Allow Teams To Reopen Facilities]
We won’t see all 32 teams reopen their facilities on Tuesday, of course, but more than two-thirds of the league will at least have the option. The clubs that do reopen will have to follow the league’s guidelines, and they won’t have coaches or players in attendance. Front office executives and medical personnel can be in the building, but they’ll be capped 50% of staff and no more than 75 total employees.
“Our goal is to reopen facilities safely and in a way that is consistent with medical and public health guidance, as reflected in the protocols; is permitted by current government regulations; and respects principles of competitive equity,” the commissioner wrote in the memo.
After that, the league will play things by ear and continue to ease the restrictions, phase-by-phase.
“This first phase of reopening is an important step in demonstrating our ability to operate safely and effectively, even in the current environment,” Goodell wrote. “After we implement this first phase, and as more states and localities enact policies that allow more club facilities to reopen, I expect that additional staff, likely including coaching staff, will be allowed to return to club facilities in a relatively short time.”
Todd Gurley Still Hasn’t Taken His Falcons Physical
In March, the Falcons agreed to sign Todd Gurley to a one-year deal. Weeks later, in early April, they officially the agreement, though Gurley had yet to actually sign his deal or take his physical. We’re now midway through May and Gurley still hasn’t taken a physical for Atlanta, according to offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). 
[RELATED:Falcons To Consider Competition For Younghoe Koo]
“The main question that no one seems to know is, ‘What’s his health status?,” Koetter said.
NFL players have not been able to take undergo traditional physicals during the pandemic, so it’s not a shock to hear that Gurley hasn’t been checked out by the Falcons’ team doctors yet. Other free agents have had physicals conducted with independent and mutually agreed upon doctors, but Koetter’s comments seem to indicate that the Falcons are in the dark, to a degree, when it comes to their new running back.
For what it’s worth, those close to Gurley say that he is in minimal pain and healing up about as well as anyone could have expected. Once things get back to normal, the Falcons will want to take a close look at Gurley’s knee and formulate a game plan to keep him on the field. That injury has plagued the two-time All-Pro. With the Rams last year, he averaged just 3.8 yards per tote and just 6.7 yards per catch. Prior to that, he managed 40 all-purpose touchdowns between ’17 and ’18 while averaging 4.8 yards per carry.
“What’s his workload?,” Koetter asked, rhetorically (via ESPN.com’s Vaughn McClure). “He averaged about 17 touches a game last year, which is a little lower than he had been when he was All-Pro. We’re just gonna have to find that out once we get here and get him working, get him up and running.”
In a worst case scenario, Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff says the team has injury protection on Gurley’s deal. Assuming everything checks out, Gurley will star in the Falcons’ backfield on a one-year, $11MM deal. Only $6MM of that figure comes from the Falcons’ books – the Rams are on the hook for $7.5MM and the rest ($2.5MM) comes by way of offset pay.
Falcons To Consider Kicking Competition
Younghoe Koo isn’t a lock to be the Falcons’ kicker this year. Head coach Dan Quinn says he’s thinking about adding another kicker to the 90-man offseason roster to compete alongside him.
“We are still definitely considering adding a kicker into that spot,” Quinn said. “You could imagine that some of those decisions involve workouts and things that aren’t at this space.”
The Falcons passed on this year’s class of incoming kickers, which included Justin Rohrwasser (Patriots, fifth round), Tyler Bass (Bills, sixth round), and Sam Sloman (Rams, seventh round). Some expected them to dip into the available crop of rookie kickers, since they’ve had trouble in that department. Last year, they thought they were set with Giorgio Tavecchio. Then, the preseason happened – after Tavecchio missed his fourth attempt out of eight, they briefly pivoted to Blair Walsh before circling back to Matt Bryant. Bryant – who has been reliable, historically – flopped, leading them to Koo in late October.
Koo performed well, nailing 23 of 26 field goal tries and 15 of 16 extra points. Still, the Falcons won’t rest easy when it comes to their kickers. From the sound of it, they’ll have another leg in the mix this summer.
Falcons Decline Charles Harris’ Fifth-Year Option
The Falcons are taking a low-risk flier on former first-round pick Charles Harris, but Atlanta is not committing itself to Harris beyond the 2020 season. The club will not pick up the fifth-year option on the defensive end, per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network (via Nick Shook of NFL.com).
The option would have been worth just over $10MM, and though it would have been guaranteed for injury only, that was not a chance the Falcons were willing to take. Giving up a seventh-rounder for a pass rusher who is not too far removed from being a top draft choice is one thing; risking a big chunk of the 2021 salary cap on him is quite another.
Atlanta acquired Dante Fowler Jr. in the first wave of free agency in March, and the club is counting on him to build on his breakout 2019 campaign. Fowler, like Harris and Takkarist McKinley, is a former first-round pick, so the team has plenty of potential in its DE rotation, but it needs McKinley and Harris to start living up to that potential. Atlanta declined McKinley’s fifth-year option last week, putting him and Harris on track for unrestricted free agency at the end of the season.
Harris impressed in his final two seasons at Mizzou, combining for 30.5 tackles for loss and 16 sacks. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to keep up the good work at the pro level. In three years with the Dolphins, Harris has just 3.5 sacks to his credit. He has also made just eight starts in his 41 games, and despite earning some praise from Miami head coach Brian Flores during last year’s training camp, that praise did not translate into on-field results.
Dolphins To Trade Charles Harris To Falcons
The Dolphins have agreed to trade defensive end Charles Harris to the Falcons (Twitter link via Jason Butt of The Athletic). In exchange, Atlanta will send a 2021 seventh-round pick to Miami, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. 
[RELATED: Dolphins Release Taco Charlton]
The Dolphins have been doing some spring cleaning with former first-round picks this week. On Thursday, they released defensive lineman Taco Charlton. Today, they’re moving on from Harris, who was the No. 22 overall pick in the 2017 draft.
The 6’3″ edge rusher impressed in his final two seasons at Missouri, combining for 30.5 tackles for loss and 16 sacks. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to keep up the good work at the pro level. In three years, Harris has just 3.5 sacks to his credit. He’s also made just eight starts in his 41 games.
Now, with reduced expectations, he’ll try to get his career back on track with the Falcons. He’ll provide support behind Dante Fowler Jr., the former No. 3 overall pick who broke out just in the nick of time to find free agent riches. Harris, still only 25, is under contract for just $1.94M this season.
Without Harris, the Dolphins will forge ahead with Shaq Lawson and Emmanuel Ogbah as their top bookends. Ogbah inked a two-year, $15MM deal to take his talents to South Beach in March. Lawson, who notched a career-high 6.5 sacks with the Bills last year, agreed to a three-year, $30MM free agent contract.
Falcons Decline Takkarist McKinley’s Option
The Falcons have turned down Takkarist McKinley‘s fifth-year option, according to a tweet from the edge rusher. With that, the 2017 first-round pick is now set to enter his final year under contract in Atlanta. 
This was the expected move – McKinley has not lived up to expectations since being selected with the No. 26 overall pick. In his first two seasons, he did manage a fair amount of sacks – a combined 13 QB takedowns between his first two seasons. Last year, however, he seemed to regress. McKinley finished out with just 3.5 sacks in 15 contests. He also finished the year on IR thanks to a shoulder injury during the Falcons’ upset victory over the Niners in December.
The Falcons gave up a third-round pick in order to move up five spots for the UCLA product. That didn’t pan out, but McKinley’s not the only Thomas Dimitroff draft pick that hasn’t flourished. In February, the Falcons cut ties with Vic Beasley, who had just finished up his own fifth-year option season.
McKinley’s 2021 option would have been guaranteed for injury only, a risk the Falcons were not willing to take. That additional year would have paid him upwards of $10MM – far too pricey given all of the question marks.
This year, the Falcons hope to see better edge results from Dante Fowler Jr., who joined the club on a three-year, $48MM deal in March. The former Ram is coming off of his best season ever, with career highs in tackles (58), sacks (11.5), passes defended (six), and forced fumbles (two).
Falcons Sign 20 UDFAs
The Falcons have signed 20 undrafted free agents, per a team announcement. Between the UDFAs and their draft picks, the Falcons will be welcoming a total of 26 rookies to Atlanta. Of course, only some of those NFL neophytes will actually make the cut.
Here’s the full rundown of the Falcons’ UDFA class:
- Delrick Abrams, CB (Colorado)
- Hinwa Allieu, DT (Nebraska-Kearney)
- Hunter Atkinson, LT (Georgia State)
- Austin Capps, C (Arkansas)
- Mikey Daniel, FB (South Dakota State)
- Scottie Dill, RT (Memphis)
- Austin Edwards, DE (Ferris State)
- Rojesterman Farris, CB (Hawaii)
- Juwan Green, WR (Albany)
- Tyler Hall, CB (Wyoming)
- Evin Ksiezarczyk, OT (Buffalo)
- Sailosi Latu, DT (San Jose State)
- Jalen McCleskey, WR (Tulane)
- Jared Pinkney, TE (Vanderbilt)
- Caleb Repp, TE (Utah State)
- Chris Rowland, WR (Tennessee State)
- Ray Wilborn, LB (Ball State)
- Jordan Williams, LB (Baylor)
- Bryson Young, DE (Oregon)
- Justin Gooseberry, OG (Rice)
Rowland, a receiver out of FCS program Tennessee State, scored an $80K bonus on his deal, per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (on Twitter). Last year, Rowland led his squad with 57 catches for 727 yards and five touchdowns. He also showed his speed in the return game, where he averaged 13 yards per punt return. Rowland, Green, and McCleskey will push to stick in Atlanta behind Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley, Laquon Treadwell, and five other receivers under contract.
Bengals Listening To Offers For No. 33 Pick
The Bengals have one pick in each of the draft’s final six rounds. It appears they would like to change that. They are listening to offers for the first pick in the second round, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets.
Cincinnati received interest at No. 1 but did not appear to seriously consider them before taking Joe Burrow. A report earlier Friday indicated the Bengals were considering both wide receiver Denzel Mims and defensive tackle Ross Blacklock at No. 33, but the team may now want to add some draft capital to help fortify their roster after a 2-14 season.
Although the Bengals were uncharacteristically aggressive in free agency, adding D.J. Reader and Trae Waynes to their defense on high-priced deals, they still have several holes on their roster after their worst season in more than 15 years. Trading down from tonight’s top pick would create more chances for Cincinnati to add starter- or rotational-level talent.
It is not certain how far the Bengals are willing to move down, but teams like the Jaguars (No. 42), Broncos (No. 46) and Falcons (No. 47) have made calls about moving up, per Albert Breer of SI.com. The virtual draft’s second round begins at 6pm CT.