The NFL’s Longest-Tenured GMs

Only three general manager vacancies emerged this offseason. One of them came from the removal of longtime Dolphins GM Chris Grier, whom the team dismissed last October. Grier had been in Miami’s GM chair since 2016 and held final personnel say beginning in 2019. The Dolphins now have Jon-Eric Sullivan, a long-running Packers exec, at the controls.

The Falcons tabbed Ian Cunningham for their GM gig weeks later, but like Grier when the Dolphins promoted him to GM 10 years ago, he does not have final personnel say. Matt Ryan, hired as the team’s president of football (a new position for which Cunningham also interviewed), will hold that power. As a result, the NFL did not award the Bears two third-round picks for Cunningham — Chicago’s assistant GM from 2022-26 — becoming a minority exec to land a GM post.

The Vikings waited until late January to fire Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who had been the team’s GM since 2022. Despite extending Adofo-Mensah last year, Minnesota moved on but waited until after the draft to hire a replacement. The NFL had not seen a post-draft GM search commence since 2022, but the Vikings canvassed the league’s assistant GM ranks and landed on the Seahawks’ Nolan Teasley. He will work with longtime staffer Rob Brzezinski, who had been the team’s interim GM, moving forward.

Upheaval in Buffalo also led to a power shift, with 10th-year GM Brandon Beane elevated to president of football operations following Sean McDermott‘s firing. The Bills originally hired Beane months after McDermott in 2017. The Giants avoided wholesale change by extending fifth-year GM Joe Schoen, though the team’s John Harbaugh hire effectively brought a demotion for the struggling GM.

With Beane, Colts GM Chris Ballard, 49ers GM John Lynch and Chiefs GM Brett Veach being hired in 2017, the NFL now has 11 GMs or owner/GM figures who have been on the job for at least a decade. The Packers’ Brian Gutekunst is closing in on that status, having been extended to start his ninth year as GM.

Teasley’s former boss, John Schneider, received an extension last July. That proved to be a timely move for the Seahawks, who stormed to a Super Bowl LX championship. Schneider, who trails only the Saints’ Mickey Loomis in tenure among pure GMs presently, became the only GM in NFL history to win Super Bowls with two entirely different nuclei (as no Seattle cogs from Super Bowl XLVIII remained by 2025). The Vikings will hope Teasley, whom the Seahawks hired shortly before their 2013 Super Bowl season, can replicate some of Schneider’s success.

Here is how the NFL’s GM ranks look going into the 2026 season:

1. Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys): April 18, 1989^[1]
2. Mike Brown (Cincinnati Bengals): August 5, 1991^[2]
3. Mickey Loomis (New Orleans Saints): May 14, 2002
4. John Schneider (Seattle Seahawks): January 19, 2010; signed extension in 2025
5. Howie Roseman (Philadelphia Eagles): January 29, 2010^[3]; signed extension in 2022
6. Les Snead (Los Angeles Rams): February 10, 2012; signed extension in 2026
7. Jason Licht (Tampa Bay Buccaneers): January 21, 2014; signed extension in 2025
8. John Lynch (San Francisco 49ers): January 29, 2017; signed extension in 2023
9. Chris Ballard (Indianapolis Colts): January 30, 2017; signed extension in 2021
10. Brandon Beane (Buffalo Bills): May 9, 2017; signed extension in 2023
11. Brett Veach (Kansas City Chiefs): July 11, 2017; signed extension in 2024
12. Brian Gutekunst (Green Bay Packers): January 7, 2018; signed extension in 2026
13. Eric DeCosta (Baltimore Ravens): January 7, 2019
14. Andrew Berry (Cleveland Browns): January 27, 2020; signed extension in 2024
15. Nick Caserio (Houston Texans): January 5, 2021
16. George Paton (Denver Broncos): January 13, 2021: signed extension in 2026
17. Brad Holmes (Detroit Lions): January 14, 2021; signed extension in 2024
18. Joe Schoen (New York Giants): January 21, 2022: signed extension in 2026
19. Ryan Poles (Chicago Bears): January 25, 2022: signed extension in 2025
20. Omar Khan (Pittsburgh Steelers): May 24, 2022; signed extension in 2025
21. Monti Ossenfort (Arizona Cardinals): January 16, 2023
22. Adam Peters (Washington Commanders): January 12, 2024
23. Dan Morgan (Carolina Panthers): January 22, 2024
24. Joe Hortiz (Los Angeles Chargers): January 29, 2024
25. Eliot Wolf (New England Patriots): May 11, 2024
26. Mike Borgonzi (Tennessee Titans): January 17, 2025
27. John Spytek (Las Vegas Raiders): January 22, 2025
28. Darren Mougey (New York Jets): January 24, 2025
29. James Gladstone (Jacksonville Jaguars): February 21, 2025
30. Jon-Eric Sullivan (Miami Dolphins): January 9, 2026
31. Ian Cunningham (Atlanta Falcons): January 29, 2026
32. Nolan Teasley (Minnesota Vikings): May 30, 2026

Footnotes:

1. Jones has been the Cowboys’ de facto general manager since former GM Tex Schramm resigned in April 1989.
2. Brown has been the Bengals’ de facto GM since taking over as the team’s owner in August 1991.
3. The Eagles bumped Roseman from their top decision-making post in 2015, giving Chip Kelly personnel power. Roseman was reinstated upon Kelly’s December 2015 firing.

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