Last week, I ranked every NFL general manager. Now, I’m ranking every team owner, specifically through an NFL lens. I looked at three main factors: team success, smart hires/organizational structure and a lack of controversy.

Team success speaks for itself, with Super Bowls and winning seasons being placed at a premium. For the second category, I mostly wanted to give credit to owners who are known for utilizing good strategies, making smart choices, and generally making their team environment a good one. Lastly, owners who end up in the news for the wrong reasons hurt their team, especially if they aren’t offsetting those headlines with wins.

1: Robert Kraft, New England Patriots

Taking over in 1994, Kraft built the Patriots into a modern-day dynasty. Between 2002 and 2019, he won six Super Bowls, pairing HC Bill Belichick and QB Tom Brady to form the winningest such duo in league history. In the post-Brady years, New England has struggled to find its footing, moving on from Belichick last offseason and suffering a few losing seasons. Hiring HC Mike Vrabel to mentor second-year QB Drake Maye, however, has the franchise trending back up.

2: Clark Hunt, Kansas City Chiefs

Inheriting the Chiefs from his father in 2006, Hunt has replaced Kraft’s Patriots as the dominant franchise in the NFL. A decade of winning without a Super Bowl to show for it has given way to a dynasty of their own, with nine straight AFC West titles and three Super Bowl wins during that span. Hiring HC Andy Reid proved to be a great move, and QB Patrick Mahomes has this team competitive year in and year out.

3: Stan Kroenke, Los Angeles Rams

Kroenke was a Rams minority owner for a long time before purchasing the controlling share in 2010. Shortly thereafter, he moved the team from St. Louis back to Los Angeles, sparking a lawsuit from St. Louis against him and the NFL. The move was probably a smart one, as the Rams have a lot of fan support in Southern California, and since then, the Rams have been on the upswing as a franchise. Their recent success includes a Super Bowl win in 2022 and they are the favorites in the NFC West once again this year.

4: Steve Bisciotti, Baltimore Ravens

Gaining full ownership control in 2004, Bisciotti immediately set about investing in his new team. He’s done wonders to modernize the Ravens, with Baltimore routinely praised as one of the best-run organizations in the sport. The surprise hire of Eagles special teams coordinator John Harbaugh in 2007 already delivered one title to the city, and they are currently one of the top contenders to win another.

5: Bryan Glazer, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Acquiring the team in 1995, Glazer won two Super Bowls two decades apart in Tampa Bay. He built a new stadium for the Bucs and undertook a major rebranding initiative. Recently, shelling out for Brady delivered the second of those Super Bowl titles, and Glazer continually invested in his team to keep them competitive.

6: Terry & Kim Pegula, Buffalo Bills

The Bills were mired in mediocrity — or worse — after a run of AFC dominance in the 90s before the Pegulas took over. They’ve turned their franchise around, now with five straight AFC East titles, and are perennial contenders at the top of the league. Hiring GM Brandon Beane and HC Sean McDermott together from the Panthers in 2017 proved to be a fantastic move.

7: Sheila Ford Hamp, Detroit Lions

One of the league’s newer owners, Ford Hamp took over from her mother in 2020 and immediately set about rebuilding the languishing Lions franchise. Hiring GM Brad Holmes and HC Dan Campbell in 2021 jump-started that process, and now Detroit is an institution at the top of the NFC.

8: Jeffrey Lurie, Philadelphia Eagles

Since purchasing the team in 1994, Lurie has had a largely successful and uneventful 30 years as owner. The Eagles have made four Super Bowls in that span, winning two, and have had multiple runs of success with quarterbacks like Donovan McNabb and Jalen Hurts. Philadelphia has long been considered one of the best-run franchises in the NFL, a testament to Lurie’s leadership.

9: Jed York, San Francisco 49ers

Receiving control of the team from his mother, Denise DeBartolo York, in 2008, Jed York has done a remarkable job keeping the 49ers consistently competitive during his run as owner. His first major hire was HC Jim Harbaugh, a move that almost won San Francisco a Super Bowl, though he also controversially fired Harbaugh a few years later. Hiring HC Kyle Shanahan in 2017 proved a key decision, and one that’s kept the Niners near the top of the NFC ever since.

10: Josh Harris, Washington Commanders

Despite just a year at the helm, Harris has already proven his expertise in reviving franchises in other professional sports translates to the NFL. The decisions to hire GM Adam Peters and HC Dan Quinn delivered huge results in their first season, with a run to the NFC championship game. Harris is a smart, analytically-minded owner who knows how to find the right people for the job and let them work, giving them the resources they need to succeed. After decades of watching Dan Snyder run this team into the ground, Washington fans must be thrilled with the job Harris is doing.

11: Packers Shareholders, Green Bay Packers

Ed Policy is the team president and CEO, taking over last month for predecessor Mark Murphy, and he represents the Packers at owners’ meetings and casts votes as necessary. But Green Bay is famously the team owned by its fans. Being a publicly traded corporation instead of a privately-owned one has its benefits, namely that the Packers’ brass doesn’t need to worry about a meddling owner getting too involved in football decisions or refusing to pony up for contracts. Clearly, the model works, though I highly doubt it will be replicated anytime soon.

12: Rob Walton, Denver Broncos

The wealthiest NFL owner by a wide margin, Walton set about turning his Walmart fortunes into NFL wins when he took over in 2022. Though day-to-day ownership duties belong to Walton’s son-in-law, Greg Penner, Walton is still responsible for the shift in how the Broncos operate. They aren’t afraid to spend big and write checks other franchises can’t match, and that does carry advantages even in a salary-cap era.

13: Cal McNair, Houston Texans

Taking over from his father in 2018, McNair has largely put the right people in the right positions to steward his franchise. Aside from the controversial hiring (and subsequent firing) of executive Jack Easterby, there’s not much to criticize on McNair’s resume. His handling of the Deshaun Watson fiasco went about as well as you could expect, and he has the Texans on the upswing as a team.

14: Art Rooney II, Pittsburgh Steelers

It really doesn’t get more solid than Rooney. He’s followed in his father’s footsteps, offering a near-seamless ownership transition and keeping the success rolling. Rooney took over in 2017 and while the Steelers haven’t made much playoff noise since then, he’s kept them afloat.

15: Jody Allen, Seattle Seahawks

When ownership of the Seahawks fell to Allen after the death of her brother in 2018, all she had to do was let the veteran crew of GM John Schneider and HC Pete Carroll continue to work. However, Allen did shake things up a little bit when she moved on from Carroll in 2024, though she did sign Schneider to an extension this summer.

16: Carlie Irsay-Gordon, Indianapolis Colts

After the sudden passing of longtime Colts owner Jim Irsay in May, control of the team passed to his eldest daughter. Irsay-Gordon has been heavily involved with the Colts and the NFL at large for the better part of two decades, being named a team vice president in 2008 and sits on multiple league initiative committees. In the past, she’s primarily focused on charity- and cause-based initiatives, but has also spent considerable time on the sidelines during games to learn the ins and outs of the team and the game. Irsay-Gordon is more prepared than most as she takes over this job, though time will tell how she approaches her new responsibilities.

17: Dean Spanos, Los Angeles Chargers

In just 10 years, Spanos has cycled through four head coaches with the Chargers. A year ago, he hired Jim Harbaugh away from the Michigan Wolverines, a move that so far looks promising. He moved the team to Los Angeles from San Diego a few years back, a move that hasn’t yet delivered the desired results.

18: John Mara & Steve Tisch, New York Giants

Co-owners since 2005, Mara and Tisch won two Super Bowls with Eli Manning at quarterback in the mid-2000s. Since then, success hasn’t materialized for this team. The duo are known for remaining too loyal to their hires even after it’s clear change is necessary, a criticism on full display this offseason with the retention of HC Brian Daboll and GM Joe Schoen.

19: Zygi Wilf, Minnesota Vikings

A racketeering charge in 2013 is the only real headline Wilf has generated since he bought the team in 2005, something not every owner can manage. While the Vikings haven’t been all that consistently competitive in the last two decades, these last few seasons have been pretty good. The current tandem of GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and HC Kevin O’Connell has the makings of a potentially special one.

20: Amy Adams Strunk, Tennessee Titans

Strunk made waves after a power struggle ended with her firing former HC Vrabel, a surprise move given he is one of the most respected coaches in the business. Since 2015 when she took over, the Titans have had limited success and are now engaged in a lengthy rebuild.

21: Arthur Blank, Atlanta Falcons

One of the older owners in the NFL, Blank is the co-founder of Home Depot and bought the Falcons in 2002. Atlanta has had limited success since then, with a single Super Bowl appearance in 2016 being the high-water mark for the team in that span. There’s a serious sense of urgency for the Falcons to win now, as Blank wants to win a title before he passes. If second-year QB Michael Penix Jr. proves to be a quality starter, that would be a big boost towards that goal.

22: Shad Khan, Jacksonville Jaguars

Khan bought the Jaguars in 2011 and outside of a surprise run to the AFC championship game in 2017, the team has been one of the worst in the league in the last decade and a half. Khan’s cycled through coaches trying to find one to turn things around, and probably remained too loyal to former GM Trent Baalke despite a lack of results. Now, a new regime takes over, and Khan will see if they have the magic formula to turn Jacksonville into a winning franchise.

23: Gayle Benson, New Orleans Saints

Benson’s husband passed away in 2018 and control of the team fell to her. She oversaw the final years of the Drew Brees era and has kept on longtime GM Mickey Loomis despite a rocky recent record. She and the Saints were the target of a labor lawsuit under her leadership, and the franchise is stuck in a continual state of limbo without any indication they’re willing to undergo a proper rebuild.

24: Stephen Ross, Miami Dolphins

Ross purchased the Dolphins franchise in 2009 and, like many others in this part of the rankings, hasn’t won much since then. He faced a major tampering violation in 2022 that cost his team their first-round pick for meeting with Brady and Payton on his yacht while they were both under contract with other teams. A once-promising core of QB Tua Tagovailoa and HC Mike McDaniel has since soured, and Miami is again beginning to spiral downward.

25: Mark Davis, Las Vegas Raiders

Owner of the worst haircut in sports, Davis took over from his father Al Davis in 2011. Controversially, he moved the franchise to Las Vegas from Oakland a few years ago, drawing ire from one of the NFL’s most loyal fanbases. Davis’ run as owner has consisted of a bunch of bad hires, poor contracts, inconsistent commitment to winning and a culture of coaches and players facing allegations (and sometimes charges) ranging in severity from racism to vehicular manslaughter. He’s also rumored to be the most cash-poor owner in the league, at least at the moment.

26: George McCaskey, Chicago Bears

A new(ish) era for the Bears begins after the death of previous owner Virginia Halas-McCaskey. George is the grandson of Bears founder George Halas, but the team hasn’t had much success at all the last 40 years. It now falls to McCaskey to bring the team back to prominence, and he made a splash with the hire of the elusive Ben Johnson as head coach.

27: Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys

If this list were made 30 years ago, Jones would rank a lot higher. He might even be No. 1, as the Cowboys enjoyed a reign of dominance over the league in the early ’90s that Jones played a large role in. Since then, however, it’s been a struggle. The Cowboys haven’t made so much as an NFC championship game in the last several decades, and Jones’s brash leadership style wears thin when it isn’t accompanied by winning. Just this summer, his dismissive comments towards Micah Parsons caused the star pass rusher to request a trade.

28: Dave Tepper, Carolina Panthers

You could argue that no NFL owner cares as much about winning as Tepper. For a while, he was unable to translate that passion into winning. Early in his tenure, he threw money around like it was nothing, expecting wins would follow and causing problems when it didn’t play out that way. After an incident in 2023 where he threw a drink at Jacksonville fans after a loss, Tepper took a bit of a step back in 2024, remaining more behind the scenes while he let his employees run the team. So far, that approach is faring better, and the Panthers finally have some promise for the first time in a while.

29: Jimmy & Dee Haslam, Cleveland Browns

We’re getting into the “actively detrimental to team success” tier of ownership now. The Haslams made a trade with Houston for QB Deshaun Watson, one that has gone down as the worst trade in NFL history. Not only did it cost four first-round picks and then some, but Watson was facing almost two dozen sexual assault allegations (and more since). Once acquired, Watson signed a fully guaranteed deal that angered other owners and hangs like an albatross around the neck of the Browns organization. Even outside of the Watson debacle, Cleveland went winless in 2016, earned back-to-back No. 1 picks, and has just one playoff win since the Haslams bought the team in 2012.

30: Woody Johnson, New York Jets

Purchasing the team in 2000, Johnson hasn’t done much of anything with the Jets in 25 years. He routinely clashes with players, including actively working against several player-led efforts, and abandoned the team to serve as the US ambassador to the UK for several years. There might not be an owner with a more antagonistic relationship with his players than Johnson.

31: Michael Bidwill, Arizona Cardinals

Taking over from his father in 2019, Bidwill was embedded within the organization long before that. He was at the center of a burner phone scandal to circumvent a suspension of then-GM Steve Keim, was the focus of a toxic workplace investigation and drew ire for using team accounts to support his preferred political candidate. He’s known for remaining too loyal to his friends, though some of his recent moves with the team have them on the upswing.

32: Mike Brown, Cincinnati Bengals

Bengals fans may not like it, but this was an easy choice. Brown inherited the team from his father in 1991 and set records for fewest wins and most losses under a single owner in a variety of time spans. Under his leadership, Cincinnati has become known for its penny-pinching contract ways, refusing to commit resources to winning and alienating its star players over petty disputes. Even this summer, we’ve seen all those issues rear their ugly heads. If there’s one silver lining, it’s that Brown’s daughter Katie Blackburn gives hope for the future when she takes over.