Many NFL fans clamor for new general managers every January, but the hiring process is more mysterious than anyone realizes. In our latest YouTube video, we share how media narratives are shaped to get clients hired, why public scouting track records for GM candidates don’t actually exist, and what legendary coach Bill Walsh said about the front office structure.
What Are NFL GM Hires Based On?
NFL general manager candidates aren’t like coaching hires or players drafted to a team. Unlike the ability to see the job a coach does every week or a player’s production and skill on the field, NFL executives don’t have much known about them aside from the organization they work for and their school and work history.
Basically, NFL GM searches are a faceless process, with fans not having much to go off in terms of why (or if) they should be excited about the next potential leader of the front office. Personnel executives throughout NFL organizations aren’t publishing their scouting reports, draft rankings, or track record.
Organizations Are Critical
Therefore, the NFL organization a general manager candidate is with is crucial in determining who should get interviews with other teams. For example, when the Bills went against consensus to get a major hit in superstar quarterback Josh Allen in the 2018 NFL Draft, it led to a ton of “Executive from Buffalo” talk for just about every general manager job that opened around the league.
That’s easy to hide behind, and that’s where the interview process becomes extremely important. To get interviews in the first place, having friends to vouch for you certainly helps.
The Importance of Agents
The most underrated aspect of NFL general manager (and head coach) hirings is agents—specifically, super agents with the ability to pull strings. Agents rep everything from players to coaches to executives—to media insiders. Do you think the glowing adjectives reporters put out about GM candidates is coming from the teams? Sometimes, sure. But it mostly comes from the agents. There are millions of dollars at stake, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Advisory Firms
And there are hundreds of millions if not billions at stake for NFL ownership looking to make the right hires at head coach, general manager—and, by extension with the decisions they make—quarterback. Just look at what guys like Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen have done for Kansas City and Buffalo.
That’s why some NFL franchises hire advisory firms such as Turnkey ZRG and Sportsology to advise on GM and coach searches. These firms leverage relationships and sometimes do things like proprietary testing and analysis of a pool of candidates. From there, they can present information to NFL ownership, which the owners can decide to utilize or not utilize.
High-Stakes Business
There’s a ton that goes into hiring an NFL general manager. But the truth is, it’s difficult to make the right hire with so much about the process—certainly for fans, but also for NFL teams not necessarily getting the full scouting history of candidates—shrouded in mystery.
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