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The NFL’s Assistant General Managers

By | at June 26, 2026 10:15 pm

When the Vikings hired Nolan Teasley late last month, the general manager carousel came to a stop once again. Minnesota has since filled out its assistant GM tier, joining Seattle — which lost Teasley from its AGM post — in doing so this month. The Vikings’ GM search — which consisted of interim GM Rob Brzezinski and assistant GMs from other teams — reminded that the AGM post serves as the top launching pad to the GM ranks.

While front office bosses are fairly well-known presences — particularly to the PFR audience — the assistant GM level consists of less recognizable figures. But these staffers sit as top front office lieutenants, many of whom have interviewed for GM jobs already. Others will do so in the future. Here are the teams that have assigned the assistant general manager title to one or more staffers:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

  • John McKay (hired in 2016, promoted to AGM in 2025)

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

The Cowboys, Jaguars, Jets, Packers, Panthers, Patriots and Ravens do not have a staffer in this position. Some front offices opt against handing out the title. The Patriots and Cowboys have refrained from doing so for many years. Jerry Jones has served as the team’s GM since his 1989 purchase; he does not plan to step down from his front office perch anytime soon. Son Stephen Jones operates as the team’s COO. VP of player personnel Will McClay has drawn outside GM interest in the past, but the longtime Dallas staffer has preferred to stay put.

Carolina promoted Dan Morgan from assistant GM to the top front office post in 2024. Former Chiefs exec Brandt Tilis serves as the Panthers’ de facto AGM, residing as the team’s executive VP of football operations. Tilis interviewed for the Falcons’ top front office post — which went to Matt Ryan — this offseason. Now that the Dolphins hired former Packers VP of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan as GM, cap specialist Russ Ball is probably Green Bay’s most prominent exec working under longtime GM Brian Gutekunst.

The Patriots hired former Titans interim GM Ryan Cowden to work with Mike Vrabel; the longtime Tennessee staffer is New England’s VP of player personnel. Eliot Wolf does not officially hold a GM title (residing as executive VP of player personnel instead) — is in Year 3 running the Pats’ front office.

Second-year GMs James Gladstone and Darren Mougey have not handed out the AGM title, either. Hall of Fame left tackle Tony Boselli sits in a key Jacksonville role, as executive VP of football ops, while former Broncos GM Brian Xanders is a senior advisor to the GM. Former Vikings GM Rick Spielman helped the Jets land on Mougey as GM, and the veteran NFL staffer remains on New York’s staff (as a senior football advisor).

While a host of staffers on the assistant GM level have been part of recent GM carousels, only two current AGMs — Ireland and Ziegler — previously led a front office. Illustrating the fluidity of AGM roles, only Dodds and Ireland have been in their current positions prior to the 2020s.

2 comments Arizona Cardinals Atlanta Falcons Baltimore Ravens Buffalo Bills Carolina Panthers Chicago Bears Cincinnati Bengals Cleveland Browns Dallas Cowboys Denver Broncos Detroit Lions Green Bay Packers Houston Texans Indianapolis Colts Jacksonville Jaguars Kansas City Chiefs Las Vegas Raiders Los Angeles Chargers Los Angeles Rams Miami Dolphins Minnesota Vikings New England Patriots New Orleans Saints New York Giants New York Jets PFR Originals Philadelphia Eagles Pittsburgh Steelers San Francisco 49ers Seattle Seahawks Tampa Bay Buccaneers Tennessee Titans Washington Commanders

Seahawks Promote Willie Schneider, Matt Berry To Assistant GM

By | at June 17, 2026 2:05 pm

The reigning Super Bowl champion Seahawks are making a couple of front office promotions, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports. They will elevate director of pro personnel Willie Schneider and vice president/player acquisition Matt Berry to assistant general manager roles.

Schneider and Berry will take on more responsibilities in a Seattle front office that lost assistant GM Nolan Teasley to the Vikings’ GM job a couple of weeks ago. Trent Kirchner, another of Seahawks GM John Schneider‘s longtime lieutenants, followed Teasley to Minnesota to take one of its assistant positions.

Willie Schneider, who is John Schneider’s nephew, started off as an intern and began working as a pro scout in 2017. This is the second straight promotion in which he will succeed Teasley, who was the Seahawks’ director of pro personnel before they bumped him to AGM in 2023.

Meanwhile, Berry has been a Seahawks employee for even longer than John Schneider. He joined the team as a regional scout in 2008, two years prior to Schneider becoming its GM. Before taking on the vice president/player acquisition title, Berry served as Seattle’s director of college scouting and its senior director of player personnel for various periods. He impressed the Titans enough to earn a GM interview in January 2025, but they hired Mike Borgonzi instead.

1 comment Seattle Seahawks

Titans Request GM Interviews With Matt Berry, Ian Cunningham

By | at January 9, 2025 1:53 pm

The Titans are adding two more candidates to their search for a new general manager, according to CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones: Seahawks senior director of player personnel Matt Berry and Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham.

Berry has been with the Seahawks since 2008, advancing through the scouting ranks before reaching his current position. The Seahawks have been one of the most consistent successful teams in the draft over the last 15 years, with especially strong classes in the last few years.

Cunningham interviewed with the Titans during their last GM search in 2023 after his first year as under Ryan Poles in Chicago. Cunningham has a strong pedigree with more than a decade of front office experience between the Ravens and the Eagles, who consistently drafted well and made the playoffs in his tenure. After Cunningham did not beat out Adam Peters for the Commanders’ GM job last year, the Bears awarded him an extension. Cunningham was believed to have been offered the Cardinals’ GM job in 2023; he turned it down.

The fourth-year Bears exec also has a relationship with Titans president of football operations Chad Brinker, who is leading the team’s GM hiring process, per Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. With three seasons as assistant GM under his belt, Cunningham could be a finalist for the gig in Tennessee this time around.

The Bears are holding Cunningham out of their head coaching interviews as he seeks a GM job with another team, per Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. The team is open to including Cunningham in the process once it is confirmed he is staying in Chicago, however.

The interview requests bring the Titans’ search to nine candidates:

  • Matt Berry, senior director of player personnel (Seahawks): Interview requested
  • Mike Borgonzi, assistant general manager (Chiefs): Interview requested
  • Ian Cunningham, assistant general manager (Bears): Interview requested
  • Thomas Dimitroff, former general manager (Falcons): To interview
  • Ed Dodds, assistant general manager (Colts): Interview requested
  • Terrance Gray, vice president of player personnel (Bills): Interview requested
  • Catherine Hickman, assistant general manager (Browns): Interview requested
  • Reggie McKenzie, senior personnel executive (Dolphins): Interview requested
  • John Spytek, assistant general manager (Buccaneers): Interview requested
3 comments Chicago Bears Seattle Seahawks Tennessee Titans

NFC West Notes: Cardinals, Draft, Purdy, 49ers, Ebukam, Clark, Seahawks, Staff

By | at March 8, 2023 1:14 pm

The Cardinals have fared well when picking in the top five over the past two decades, landing the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Patrick Peterson and Kyler Murray. The team’s second-half swoon last season led to a rebuild, giving a new regime the No. 3 overall pick. Similar to the Bears, the Cards are prepared to move down. GM Monti Ossenfort made that clear, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com notes (video link). The team gave Murray a landmark extension last summer, and although Year 1 of that deal did not go well, he remains Arizona’s franchise quarterback. As such, the team will be prepared to move down to accommodate a QB-seeking team (or one eyeing the top non-passer available) that was unable to land Chicago’s pick. Such a move would bolster a roster that enters free agency with several holes.

Here is the latest from the NFC West:

  • Ossenfort also said the Cardinals have been in talks with free agents-to-be Zach Allen and Byron Murphy. The first-year GM indicated the Cardinals “would love” to keep both players, though he noted the obvious financial caveat (via AZCardinals.com’s Darren Urban) that could lead each out of town. Both were drafted to play in Vance Joseph‘s system in 2019, and each will be among the top free agents at their respective positions. If Murphy and Allen leave, cornerback and defensive line would become areas of dire need in Arizona. The Cards did not put much around Murphy since Peterson’s 2021 exit, and Allen following J.J. Watt off the roster would obviously put the onus on the NFC West squad adding reinforcements up front.
  • Brock Purdy‘s postponed elbow surgery will take place Friday, Matt Barrows of The Athletic tweets. The breakthrough 49ers quarterback was initially scheduled to undergo the UCL repair Feb. 22, but swelling led to a delay. The seventh-round pick who would be on track to retain his starting role is expected to face a six-month recovery timetable, which would run up against Week 1. This creates more QB uncertainty in San Francisco, though Trey Lance is on track to participate in OTAs. The plan remains for Purdy to have a less invasive elbow procedure, but he acknowledged Tommy John surgery — elbow reconstruction — could take place. The latter route would threaten to hijack Purdy’s 2023 season.
  • The 49ers discussed trading for Frank Clark before the veteran defensive end agreed to a Chiefs restructure in 2022, Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle notes. Clark is now available, having been a Chiefs cap casualty this week. The former Seahawks draftee’s 13.5 playoff sacks are the third-most in NFL history, but he never topped eight during a regular season with the Chiefs. The 49ers could consider Clark opposite Nick Bosa, with Samson Ebukam being viewed (via Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com) as likely to price himself out of San Francisco. Ebukam, 27, recorded 9.5 sacks in his two-year 49ers run. He could command an eight-figure-per-year deal, per Fowler, as this edge rusher market is fairly light. Even ahead of his age-30 season, Clark may not come much cheaper.
  • Azeez Al-Shaair figures to join Ebukam on the way out of the Bay Area, Barrows adds. The 49ers have already given Fred Warner a top-market contract, and they reached a midlevel agreement to retain ascending sidekick Dre Greenlaw last year. Al-Shaair will join a crowded off-ball linebacker market next week.
  • The Seahawks went through with some front office promotions recently. Nolan Teasley has moved into the role of assistant GM, while Matt Berry will become the team’s senior director of player personnel. Teasley has been with the team since 2013, moving up from the scouting level. Berry has been working with the Seahawks longer than GM John Schneider, having started with the team in 2008. Additionally, Willie Schneider will step into Beasley’s former role of pro personnel director. Aaron Hineline will replace Berry as director of college scouting.
  • The Seahawks’ recent Phil Haynes deal will be a one-year, $4MM pact, Brady Henderson of ESPN.com tweets. The prospective guard starter will receive a fully guaranteed $1.3MM base salary and a $2.2MM signing bonus.
7 comments 2023 NFL Draft Arizona Cardinals San Francisco 49ers Seattle Seahawks