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NFL general manager superlatives, trends: Most successful at trade-ups, best Day 3 drafters and more

Indianapolis, IN, USA; Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo‐Mensah speaks to the press at the NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

With just over two weeks before the 2023 NFL Draft, we wanted to take a look backward to see what it could tell us going forward.

First and foremost, it’s important to understand who is making the decisions for each team. There has been a lot of turnover among general managers the past few offseasons, so here is where things stand with each club headed into the 2023 draft.

Team General Manager Start Year
Arizona Cardinals Monti Ossenfort 2023
Tennessee Titans Ran Carthon 2023
Las Vegas Raiders Dave Ziegler 2022
Chicago Bears Ryan Poles 2022
New York Giants Joe Schoen 2022
Jacksonville Jaguars Trent Baalke 2022
Minnesota Vikings Kwesi Adofo-Mensah 2022
Pittsburgh Steelers Omar Khan 2022
Carolina Panthers Scott Fitterer 2021
Atlanta Falcons Terry Fontenot 2021
Denver Broncos George Paton 2021
Houston Texans Nick Caserio 2021
Detroit Lions Brad Holmes 2021
New York Jets Joe Douglas 2020
Cleveland Browns Andrew Berry 2020
Washington Commanders Ron Rivera 2020
Miami Dolphins Chris Grier 2019
Baltimore Ravens Eric DeCosta 2019
Green Bay Packers Brian Gutekunst 2018
Kansas City Chiefs Brett Veach 2018
Buffalo Bills Brandon Beane 2018
Indianapolis Colts Chris Ballard 2017
San Francisco 49ers John Lynch 2017
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jason Licht 2014
Los Angeles Chargers Tom Telesco 2013
Los Angeles Rams Les Snead 2012
Philadelphia Eagles Howie Roseman 2010
Seattle Seahawks John Schneider 2010
New Orleans Saints Mickey Loomis 2001
New England Patriots Bill Belichick 2000
Dallas Cowboys Jerry Jones 1994
Cincinnati Bengals Mike Brown 1991

Some teams have operated under the same front-office leadership for several decades and others are steered by relative newcomers, so we wanted to split our analysis into the entire rookie wage scale era (2011-2022) as well as the back half of the rookie wage scale era since 2017.


Most successful drafting in the first round

First, we take a look at how teams have performed at drafting in the first round only. The below charts illustrate how each draft pick performed in terms of generating PFF wins above replacement over their four-year rookie contract, with each position at each pick having a percentile outcome from 0-100. The range of outcomes is based on the historical performance of draft picks in each range from 2006 through 2022. The earlier a pick takes place, the larger the weight that result carries in the overall score.

From 2011 to 2022, the Dallas Cowboys have been the most successful team in the first round, with notable hits including tackle Tyron Smith, center Travis Frederick, guard Zack Martin, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and edge defender Micah Parsons. Parsons is early in his career but has already generated a ton of value for Dallas through two seasons.

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