What makes a great NFL general manager, and how should teams look for one?

In this special article for Touchdown Wire, guest columnist Dan Hatman takes his years of NFL experience and gets macro on how teams should find general managers, goes deep on how best to refine the process and names more than a few of the best candidates out there. 

Nothing about 2020 has been typical. and that certainly extends to the team-building and player evaluation aspects of an NFL franchise. The common refrain from people around the league has been a co-opted Marine motto: “adapt and overcome”. This year forced teams to change and the new protocols built may have significant impacts moving forward. So, I’m leaning into the term ‘adapt,’ and I’m adapting this year’s version of GM candidate research. This year, I have crowdsourced from the scouting community a list of candidates that may not pop up on other lists, but names of those who stand out in the minds of those at all levels of the industry.

So yes, I will show you candidates that check the traditional boxes that ownership has an affinity for, but if you can stick with me to the end, I will also highlight candidates with unique and/or diverse backgrounds and explain why those skill sets may be critical for the position moving forward. With all that said, let’s begin:

What makes a good general manager? I’ve been trying to answer this question for 12 years. I have many hypotheses, but it is so hard to test them. This is due in large part to the turnover in those who hold the role. 

Case in point, of the 32 final decision makers, the 16th and 17th most tenured in their roles are Chris Ballard of the Colts and John Lynch of the 49ers, both were hired in 2017 and are completing their fourth seasons on the job. On the other side of the scale, if you take out the teams where ownership sits as GM (DAL and CIN) and setting aside Bill Belichick, the only GMs with over 10 years of experience in the job are Kevin Colbert (PIT), Mickey Loomis (NO), Rick Spielman (MIN), and John Schneider (SEA). The rest of the seats feel more like musical chairs than stable environments. You can read my research from last year to learn much more about the stability of organizations. 

This high-volume turnover makes it incredibly difficult to conduct longitudinal study of what situation a GM came into, how they overcame the obstacles they were left with (GM openings occur due to issues, not successes), what pieces they added, and how all those pieces built towards sustainable success.  

Last year, I wrote the following: “Forty-one different people have had their shot at making the final calls for an NFL franchise in the last decade. The scale by which we are turning over these front office positions seems to indicate that ownership views the candidate pool as deep, never-ending, capable, and well-trained on the nuances of executing the position.” The last sentence there has sat poorly with me for 12 months. There clearly is not a never-ending pool of well trained candidates ready to deal with the entire scope of job duties held by the General Manager. If so, we’d have more success stories. 

I do not believe this is because people across the industry lack the intellect for tackling such a diverse and ever-evolving series of duties. I believe this is because this industry does not invest in their people, it does not consistently promote people within their roles, it does not actively work to prepare those involved for the highest position. If Owners want to see their football operations staff execute better, they should invest more in their football operations staff. 

So this year, the focus needs to be on skill sets and experiences held by a GM candidate. With the hypothesis being, the larger the tool box they possess, the better positioned they may be in regards to solving problems. We should be looking for multi-track minds. No two days are the same in an NFL front office. So walking in the door with a plan, developed in a vacuum, free from the active constraints of that organization and lacking knowledge of the various crises that will show up so often, leaves most plans as a loose dream of what they want things to be like vs what it will actually be like. 

Ask someone who has been a GM about the job, and what they wished they knew beforehand, and they will pour out with anecdotes and insights on all the things they were forced to learn on the job and the things they did not feel prepared for. Ask them about their day to day and they will tell you how they went from spending potentially over 80% of their time watching film and evaluating players in their roles prior to maybe upwards of 30% (on a good day) when they finally reached the GM chair. 

Then the beginning of this year’s research needed to be the categorizing of past hires and studying more on the candidates experience prior to becoming a General Manager, a topic I discussed at length with Mike Sando of The Athletic and Brad Spielberger of PFF. The goal being to explore what factors may have the largest impact on the success of the GM. These inputs are critical as there is no formal training for the GM and candidates see the landscape as a moving target as they feel compelled to guess what Owners care about, as again, little guidance is given. 

So in order to do this categorization, I went back into my database to 2007. This is not an arbitrary year, but the first year I was able to collect candidate names from public record and not just who was ultimately hired for the job.

Five categories emerged from 71 hires since 2007.

Familiar Hires To Ownership / Team President (40 hires / 56% of the 71 searches in the dataset)

• Internal Promotion/Past Employee (31 / 44%)

This category covers hires like Dave Gettleman returning to the New York Giants after spending the bulk of his NFL tenure working for them, as well as those like Brett Veach, Eric Decosta, or Chris Grier who were promoted internally.

• GM “re-installed” (3)

3 such situations took place, where someone who once held the title (and full authority) of GM for a team, then did not, but then was ‘re-installed’ to the top post: Howie Roseman, Marty Hurney, and Dave Caldwell.

• Non GM/GM (6)

This category is for searches that may not have led to a GM being hired, times when the HC clearly had final control, or any other ambiguous situation for who held the cards.

For example; Mike Mayock, who holds the title and runs the scouting department, but the final decision lands with Jon Gruden

Then there are executives like Kyle Smith (WAS) and Patrick Stewart (CAR) who may not have final decision currently, but there is an expectation that they can earn that authority sooner rather than later.

Outside Hire for GM (31 / 44%)

• Outside Hire for GM Paired With Coach (12 / 17%)

This category does have situations where the GM had worked with the HC previously and the HC was key in that GM’s selection. For example, Brandon Beane’s connection to Sean McDermott while in Carolina orJoe Douglas’ time spent with Adam Gase in Chicago.

• Search That Lead To a GM Hire From Outside (19 / 27%)

Just as the title suggests, these are situations where the person hired as GM came from outside the team, without having worked for that team previously. 

So, what does all this mean? 

It seems very clear that comfort drives many of these decisions. Of the 71 GM searches studied since 2007, only 19 led to a new decision maker that did not have clear ties to the Owner/Search Committee/Head Coach. So turning that into a percentage, only 27% of GM searches resulted in Ownership actually changing course and installing new systems in their personnel department. 

The hypothesis here is that the nature of the scouting process and the secrecy teams have regarding the information and grades they collect, lead to almost no public data for study. Therefore, it is functionally impossible to look at the Win/Loss record of a team and draw objective connections from those results to the contributions of each member of the scouting staff. Outside of the cultivated war room videos or the rare teams like the Indianapolis Colts whose GM, Chris Ballard, will make his scouting staff available for press conferences post draft, we have no idea which staffers were on-board with a decision and which were not. Ultimately, the lack of information Ownership can obtain on candidates who have not passed through their buildings is limited in scope.

So if the owners and search committees who do actually want to bring about outside change, cannot study results to determine who was the engine that drives success, where can they go? The answer is their rolodex, agents, media insiders, and those whose tenure would suggest they may have a pulse on what is really going on. It’s not hard to find those who will tell you they have the answers, but the concern among the scouting community is that no outsiders are auditing all 32 teams and none are working to understand each staffer in the NFL. 

Search committees study the interview behaviors of their competitors and even share notes on the quality of interviews from candidates. This alone is the reason this research has been so effective at highlighting those most likely to be hired in a GM search. Those who interview for GM jobs get on the radar of every other team and therefore are more likely to be asked to interview down the road. 

*One caveat here; there does seem to be a mechanism that candidates with leverage can consider, which is: declining interviews. Candidates like Nick Caserio, Eric Decosta, Ed Dodds, Will McClay, George Paton, and Duke Tobin have declined interviews and it only seems to make interest in them skyrocket even more.

What is relied on then, is the assumption that how teams promote internally should provide a signal on who others should care about. Earning a big title in one organization generates a mark of candidacy to the league. Therefore, one recommendation to candidates is to build a coalition in your current organization, so they will back your candidacy. If your current team is not shining a spotlight on you, the optics seem like a large hurdle to overcome. 

To further illustrate this point, the most common titles in 2 positions prior to GM are:

• Director of Player Personnel/Director of Football Operations (Green Bay uses the Director of Football Operations title for personnel rather than traditional operations)
• Director of College Scouting
• Director of Pro Personnel
• Vice President of Player Personnel
• General Manager

Another concerning element to the small funnel that has been erected for candidates is that one of the gatekeeper mechanisms is agent support. Most scouts do not have an agent, in fact, most scouts live under the impression that if they hired an agent to represent their interests that they may not be employed very long. 

What ends up happening is that until the powers that be at the top of the organization essentially tap you on the shoulder and announce your candidacy, it is frowned upon to be a ‘self-promoter’. In this environment, most that ascend to such candidacy are introduced to the agent that represents their GM and the funnel tightens, leaving a very small group of agents as the representation for executives. So when search committees and owners want to engage with a candidate, they may end up with a whole list from that agent who now has leverage in the process, especially in light of the fact that many of those agents also represent the Head Coaching candidates a team will want to interview in the process. 

Finally, the last consistent mechanism that has appeared in candidate searches and interview lists of outside candidates has been the current Win/Loss record of their current employer. To say it another way: If your team is good right now, you have a shot. If not….better luck next year. 

The GM landscape is a stock market (trademark pending) and is more about being at the right place at the right time, which is a constant source of frustration for candidates. Joe Douglas is a massively respected scout and now the GM of the New York Jets after a Super Bowl run as an executive for the Philadelphia Eagles, but if he had not taken the Jets job and was still with Philly now, would he be as hot of a candidate as he was in the Summer of 2019? Probably not.

So, without further ado, I present a list of General Manager candidates, clustered by background, and ordered alphabetically. I am not in a place to deem a candidate “worthy” or “unworthy” for consideration as a General Manager. This is NOT “my list.” This is the outcome of years of studying which candidates have actually interviewed for the position and my attempt to highlight what I have learned in that process. I have dear friends that I believe should be in consideration for GM opportunities that will be on the list below, and others that will not. This is because this study is not about who I believe in, but who seems to have the attention of ownership groups. Their names are links to their bios. You can find a master list of NFL media guides here, to learn more about any name on the list. 

Those who most commonly decline interviews

• Nick Caserio – director of player personnel – New England Patriots
• Will McClay – vice president, player personnel – Dallas Cowboys
• Duke Tobin – director of player personnel – Cincinnati Bengals

Those with at least one 2019 or 2020 interview

• Ray Farmer – scouting consultant – Los Angeles Rams
• Scott Fitterer – co-director of player personnel – Seattle Seahawks
• Terry Fontenot – vice president/assistant GM – pro personnel – New Orleans Saints
• Champ Kelly – assistant director of player personnel – Chicago Bears
• Martin Mayhew – vice president, player personnel – San Francisco 49ers
• Monti Ossenfort – director of player personnel – Tennessee Titans
• George Paton – vice president of player personnel/assistant GM – Minnesota Vikings

Those who interviewed most recently in 2017 or 2018

• Kevin Abrams – vice president of football ops/assistant GM – New York Giants
• Trey Brown – director of player personnel – XFL
• Lake Dawson – assistant director of college scouting – Buffalo Bills
• Brian Gaine – senior personnel advisor – Buffalo Bills
• Terry McDonough – senior personnel executive – Arizona Cardinals
• Jimmy Raye III – senior personnel executive – Detroit Lions
• Louis Riddick – analyst – ESPN Monday Night Football 
• Marc Ross – analyst – NFL Network
• Doug Whaley – senior vice president, football operations – XFL
• Eliot Wolf – scouting consultant – New England Patriots

Oft-mentioned candidates from teams currently sitting in playoff spots

• Ray Agnew – director of pro scouting – Los Angeles Rams
• Mike Borgonzi – director of football operations – Kansas City Chiefs
• Ryan Cowden – vice president of player personnel – Tennessee Titans
• Ed Dodds – assistant general manager – Indianapolis Colts
• Quentin Harris – director of player personnel – Arizona Cardinals
• Brad Holmes – director of college scouting – Los Angeles Rams
• Brandon Hunt – pro scouting coordinator – Pittsburgh Steelers
• Omar Khan – vice president of football and business administration – Pittsburgh Steelers
• Trent Kirchner – co-director of player personnel – Seattle Seahawks
• Dan Morgan – director of player personnel – Buffalo Bills
• Joe Schoen – assistant general manager – Buffalo Bills
• John Spytek – director of player personnel – Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Jon-Eric Sullivan – co-director of player personnel – Green Bay Packers

Former General Managers who have been most discussed publicly 

• John Dorsey – unknown
• Jeff Ireland – vice president/assistant GM – college personnel – New Orleans Saints
• Ryan Grigson – senior football advisor – Cleveland Browns
• Reggie McKenzie – senior personnel executive – Miami Dolphins
• Scott Pioli – analyst – NFL Network
• Jerry Reese – unknown
• Rick Smith – unknown
• Brian Xanders – senior personnel executive – Los Angeles Rams

Oft-mentioned candidates whose teams made the playoffs last year

• Joe Hortiz – director of college scouting – Baltimore Ravens
• James Liipfert – director of college scouting – Houston Texans
• Adam Peters – vice president of player personnel – San Francisco 49ers

Those six categories alone bring up 44 names that have been circulated publicly for candidacy for the 4 current GM openings (at publication time) in Houston, Atlanta, Detroit, and Jacksonville. Then odds are, only one search will produce a GM that is an outside change agent, as opposed to someone versed in the current culture/systems.  If we are looking at another cycle of the same search processes following the same procedures as we have the last decade, doesn’t it stand to reason that we would also be looking at the same results?

What is to follow is my research on candidates that may seem unconventional, but a closer look suggests that their experiences and skill set may present a tool box that could help them execute the ever-growing duties and responsibilities of General Manager in a league that is getting more heavily reliant on technology and data science. 

In order to generate this list a survey question was sent to over 100 NFL staffers, all of whom have over 5 years of NFL service and the majority have over 10 years of NFL service. The question was: 

Can you name 1 or 2 people in football that you’ve met or worked with that you think have a unique background/skill set/thought process about team building? Someone, who even if they are not ready for GM today, shows signs of being the type of person you would follow moving forward.

Six candidates rose from the ranks who were specifically nominated based on their success in evaluation, but also for additional skill sets or experiences that should serve them well moving forward. Sample quotes from those that recommended them are shared along with a breakdown of their backgrounds. They are listed in alphabetical order:

Brandon Brown – director of pro scouting – Philadelphia Eagles

• Quote 1: “Really detailed, a great person and has that “it” factor where he just gets the whole business. Does it the right way too by letting his work show, very humble”
• Quote 2: “Law degree, very sharp, impressive to talk to…understands how to look at things from a different perspective, not afraid to put himself on the line for things he believes in and will think outside the box…testimony to his work and time he puts into his craft.”
• The former Fordham University DB graduated with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration before earning his Juris Doctor at Barry University Law School. While in law school, Brown worked in athletic compliance for Central Florida. He earned his first opportunity in the NFL as a summer intern with the New York Jets before entering the CFB ranks at Boston College, first as a recruiting specialist before being promoted to Assistant Director of Player Personnel. The Colts then hired Brown as a Scouting Assistant where he spent 1 year before immediately being promoted to Advance Scout. Again, after only 1 year, the Philadelphia Eagles hired him away as their Assistant Director of Pro Scouting. After only 2 years in the role, Brown was promoted to Director of Pro Scouting. The fast riser has consistently impressed with his acumen, attention to detail, and his ability to see the bigger picture.
• TLDR synopsis: CFB Player, Law Degree, CFB Compliance, CFB Recruiting, Pro Scouting (2 NFL teams)

Trey Brown – director of player personnel – St. Louis BattleHawks (XFL)

• Quote 1: “Versatile. Grew up around the game, played in the NFL, has a coaching and scouting background. Went to Super Bowls with NE and PHL (won). But maybe most compelling is the last 3 years where he’s managed two franchises in the AAF and XFL. He’s already had reps hiring coaching & medical staff, installing analytics, working with owners/commissioners to establish rules, dealing with  municipalities for space/times/etc. I think those are reps that are almost impossible to come by if you’ve never sat in the big chair.”
• Quote 2: “Young, high energy, smart, experienced scout/director, analytically inclined and familiar with sports science. He took the road less traveled to expand his perspective and be more prepared to be a successful GM”
• The former UCLA player who graduated with a Bachelors in Political Science, went to training camp with the Chicago Bears and played in the United Football League. Son of former 2nd round running back Theotis Brown (grew up in the NFL) and has been mentored by Carl Peterson (his Dad played for Carl at UCLA and KC). Began his NFL scouting career with the New England Patriots before being hired as the Assistant Director of College Scouting by the Philadelphia Eagles and eventually rising to Director of College Scouting in Philadelphia (the Eagles won a Super Bowl in 2018).
• One of 10 future NFL general managers to participate in an NFL leadership summit in the summer of 2019. Interviewed for GM jobs in Buffalo (at age 32) and Oakland/Las Vegas (at age 33). Owners suggested he only needed to gain broader experience running an entire operation, so he went to the AAF and the XFL as Director of Player Personnel,  building those programs from scratch with involvement in every aspect of Football Ops (scouting, medical, equipment, travel, facilities, legal, media, etc.). These experiences allow Trey to see the entire picture and not just the personnel aspects of a General Manager’s job description.
• TLDR Synopsis: CFB Player, Professional Player, Son of NFL Player, College Scouting (2 NFL Teams), NFL Executive, Built AAF and XFL teams from scratch.

Champ Kelly – assistant director of player personnel – Chicago Bears

• “Really sharp and organized. He thinks outside of the box and also has uncanny awareness of his own strengths and weaknesses. I also like his ability to lead people. He commands respect and inspires hope”
• “High character man with genuine positive energy and charisma which results in an effective leadership presence. He is convicted in his beliefs on both process and players, yet is open minded and a great listener.  I think he is a champ!”  
• The former University of Kentucky WR/DB has one of the most unique and diverse backgrounds with experience as a player, coach, agent, pro and college scout, and software engineer. Prior to entering the NFL, Kelly, who graduated with a degree in Computer Science and Masters in Business Administration, spent nearly 3 years as a software/quality engineer for IBM. In addition, while at IBM, Kelly was a high school coach and played WR/DB for the Lexington Horsemen.  After his playing career, Kelly became a coach and ultimately the General Manager for the Lexington Horsemen of the United Indoor Football League. Following a brief stint as a certified NFLPA contract advisor, Kelly was hired by the Denver Broncos as their Northeast college scout. Kelly was then promoted after one year to Assistant Coordinator of Pro and College Scouting.
• After two years in that role, Kelly ascended to the role of Assistant Director of Pro Personnel. During Kelly’s five seasons as the Broncos’ Assistant Director of Pro Personnel, the Broncos won four division titles thanks in large part to the eight veteran free agents signed during this time who went on to make the Pro Bowl. Kelly was then hired by the Chicago Bears to direct their Pro Scouting department. After serving as Director of Pro Scouting for two years, Kelly was promoted to Assistant Director of Player Personnel. During his tenure, the Bears clinched their first playoff berth and division title since 2010. Few executives can match Kelly’s wide array of experiences.  Not only does Kelly have a playing, coaching and scouting background, but his business acumen and experiences with analytics as a software engineer, makes Kelly an ideal candidate to lead a football operations department in the current football landscape.
• Founder of Heart Power Inc. a charitable foundation that is focused on delivering positive and encouraging influences to the lives of children and their families. 
• TLDR synopsis: CFB Player, Computer Science Bachelors, MBA, Engineering Experience at IBM, Coach, UIFL Executive, NFLPA Certified Contract Advisor, Pro Scouting, College Scouting, and NFL Executive (2 NFL Teams)

Louis Riddick – Analyst – ESPN Monday Night Football

• “Good communication skills and ability to articulate his thoughts. He embraces analytics and game theory as an integral part of the team building/decision matrix and understands it has to be properly married with the football side to make decisions. From his current role, he has the unique opportunity to see many different ways of doing things by interviewing and talking to people throughout the league, the type of broad spectrum polling and collection of ideas that you wouldn’t have access to while working for 1 team”
• “Highly intelligent, economics background, has a strong leadership presence and excellent communication skills. Can have an equally effective conversation with an owner, coach, player, scout, trainer, media member, or corporate sponsor.  His football knowledge is outstanding, not only scheme and player evaluation, but he has a passion for the entire player development and team building process, he is a big thinker, and his drive to succeed is unmatched.”
• The former University of Pittsburgh DB graduated with a Bachelor’s in Economics before spending 7 years in the NFL as a DB with San Francisco, Atlanta, Cleveland, and the Oakland Raiders. In his time with the Cleveland Browns, he was coached by Nick Saban (Defensive Coordinator) and Bill Belichick (Head Coach). After his playing career, Riddick entered into the NFL scouting ranks as a Pro Scout for the Washington Football Team before being promoted to Director of Pro Personnel. Which is a title he held for the Philadelphia Eagles as well. Renowned for his Advance scouting work, discussed by those on those Eagles coaching staffs as the most robust they had seen. Riddick transitioned from the front office to a front office insider for ESPN, His execution led to his current role on Monday Night Football.
• The production process for MNF provides Riddick a unique opportunity to sit with coaching staffs each week, exploring what they are dealing with, concerned with, excited about, and even to assess potential future head coach candidates. These experiences have served John Lynch and Mike Mayock well in their current roles as General Manager. Riddick’s lifelong relationship with the NFL, its players, schemes, and coaches, paired with his ability to study markets/trends via his econ background, aids his perspective on the team building process.
• TLDR Synopsis: Economics Background, NFL Player, Versed in Scheme, Advance Scouting, College Scouting, NFL Executive (2 NFL Teams) Broad Picture Analysis, Behind the Scenes Access to NFL Coaches

Chris Shea – football operations counsel and personnel executive – Kansas City Chiefs

• “No one better qualified or more versed. Scout, cap, lawyer. I think he coached a bit. Most qualified candidate I’ve ever seen” 
• “His background and experience spreads so wide from player negotiations, staff negotiations, understanding the cap, figuring how to use data, both pro and college evaluations, even legal aspects with the college process”
• Operations, Equipment, Coaching, Scouting, Management Council, Instant Replay, College Scouting, Pro Scouting, Salary Cap, Roster Building, Football Administration, Analytics, Technology, CBA Compliance. These are the duties overseen by Shea in his time with six NFL teams, the NFL Management Council, two CFB programs, and a law firm. The 22 year NFL veteran has literally done a bit of everything in football operations and currently sits as the General Counsel and Personnel Executive for the World Champion Kansas City Chiefs. The 17 year scouting veteran has extensive experience in both college and pro scouting, including being the Dolphins lead advance scout and coordinating the 2008-11 drafts for MIA and the 2016 draft for PHI. He has also managed the salary cap for multiple clubs and the League.
• Shea’s role expanded in the past few seasons for Kansas City and he advises owner Clark Hunt, Head Coach Andy Reid, and General Manager Brett Veach on roster-building strategy, salary cap management, football administration, analytics, enhancement of player personnel related technology, and football operations staffing matters. Shea was part of the two man team that constructed the 12-year, $477M contract extension for QB Patrick Mahomes this past July and is involved in all trades for the Chiefs. His legal duties include NFL CBA compliance, drafting all the language contained in player, coaching, and staff contracts, negotiating medical service provider agreements, and serving as the club’s liaison to the NFL or outside counsel on all legal matters. Hard to imagine someone having more experience executing in all the various aspects of an organization than Shea.
• TLDR Synopsis: Operations, Equipment, Coaching, Scouting (5 NFL Teams), Management Council, Instant Replay, College Scouting, Pro Scouting, Salary Cap, Roster Building, Football Administration, Analytics, Technology, CBA Compliance. 

Jim Nagy – executive director – Reese’s Senior Bowl

• “Jim has experience contributing to Super Bowl Championships with three different teams. He is very intelligent, and a great man.  He leads a staff and runs the Senior Bowl as if he was drafting for two expansion teams, every season, he is very invested in the quality of talent selected for the game. Jim succeeded another highly respected football executive, and has significantly improved the game from a talent perspective and essentially every other aspect of it. 
• “Who else in scouting has to deal with sponsors and the corporate side, dealing with the community and the demands there as well as interfacing with the league office, every team and GM, and all the agents? He has to deal with things none of us do and he hears from everyone in the league. He has the pulse on what everyone cares about. That’s unique.”
• The University of Michigan graduate entered the NFL as an intern for the Green Bay Packers, during their Super Bowl winning season in 1996. After spending one season as the West Coast Area Scout for the Washington Football Team, Nagy joined the New England Patriots as an area scout in 2002, spending 7 years with the team. He was hired by Scott Pioli in Kansas City as a National Scout before spending 5 years as the Southeast Area Scout for the Seattle Seahawks. Nagy was a part of six Super Bowl teams and four Lombardi Trophy winning clubs (Green Bay Packers XXXI, New England Patriots XXXVIII and XXXIX and Seattle Seahawks XLVIII) before taking over as Executive Director of the Senior Bowl in June 2018. One of Nagy’s first moves was to build the game’s first-ever scouting department composed of former NFL scouts and implement a formal scouting system. The 186 players drafted (and 80 in the first three rounds) is the best two-year draft record in the Senior Bowl’s 72-year history.
• Nagy has also worked as an on-air draft analyst for ESPN in the leadup to the 2019 and 2020 NFL drafts. In his role with the Senior Bowl, Nagy is responsible for the identification, evaluation, and selection of those invited to the game. In addition, he interfaces with the NFL league office as well as the Mobile Arts and Sports Association and the community of Mobile at large to support them and in turn, to draw from the community to aid the game and NFL community. He oversees the game’s corporate sponsorships and works with their business partners. He works with GMs and personnel directors to manage his board and selections, extracting from the teams what they care about and making sure their needs are met. Nagy is a liaison to the agent community who are representing those players. He functions as a team builder in his current role, which gives him an advantage moving forward.

Special mention also needs to be made of the following scouts, who have come up in the scouting pipeline and received tremendous reviews from their peers in the survey process:

• Marvin Allen – assistant general manager – Miami Dolphins
• Matt Berry – director of college scouting – Seattle Seahawks
• Terrance Gray – director of college scouting – Buffalo Bills
• James Liipfert – director of college scouting – Houston Texans
• Matt Winston – assistant director of college scouting – Miami Dolphins
• JoJo Wooden – director of player personnel – Los Angeles Chargers

Last but not least, here are the remaining names that received at least 2 nomination in the voting process and has not been mentioned in any category above:

• Malik Boyd – director of pro personnel – Buffalo Bills
• Mike Bradway – assistant director of player personnel – Kansas City Chiefs
• Ran Carthon – director of pro personnel – San Francisco 49ers
• Glenn Cook – vice president of player personnel – Cleveland Browns
• Ian Cunningham – assistant director of player personnel – Philadelphia Eagles
• Dujuan Daniels – assistant director of player personnel – Las Vegas Raiders
• Brian Decker – director of player development – Indianapolis Colts
• Alonzo Highsmith – personnel executive – Seattle Seahawks
• Kevin Kelly – director of college scouting – Los Angeles Chargers
• Ryan Monnens – director of pro scouting – Minnesota Vikings
• Chisom Opara – national scout – Minnesota Vikings
• Ryan Poles – assistant director of player personnel – Kansas City Chiefs
• Anthony Robinson – director of college scouting – Atlanta Falcons
• Kevin Rogers – director of pro personnel – Indianapolis Colts
• Andy Weidl – vice president of player personnel
• Dave Ziegler – director of pro scouting – New England Patriots

A former college coach and NFL scout, Dan Hatman is dedicated to the professional development of the evaluation community. Drawing from lessons from each of the three NFL teams he worked with as well as each of the college programs he has coached at or consulted with, Hatman has blended best practices from the core of the evaluation process. Those have been combined with techniques leverage by the military, business, data science, exercise physiology, psychology, and other disciplines to reduce opportunities for human error and to maximize the objective assessment of subjectively collected information. These processes have trained 34 NFL scouts as well as dozens of coaches and recruiting staff across the college football landscape. Hatman graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and two masters; one in Business Administration and one in Sports Administration.