The Athletic’s Ben Standig consulted his league sources on who some of the top general manager candidates will be in this upcoming hiring cycle for the Commanders and other teams with a vacancy.
Many of them highlighted 49ers assistant GM Adam Peters as someone who should garner a ton of interest, assuming he’s willing to leave San Francisco.
Peters turned down interview requests from the Titans and Cardinals last year. He’s the second in command to 49ers GM John Lynch, who has considered leaving the team for a broadcast job in recent seasons.
Standig notes some league sources think Peters prefers to wait things out in San Francisco. But if he’s open to a new team, he points out Peters worked with current Commanders GM Martin Mayhew and some other members of the front office.
Per Standig, new Commanders owner Josh Harris is expected to make some changes to the front office along with moving on from HC Ron Rivera, who currently is in charge of all football decisions.
“I think that if you’re a team looking this year, to put it bluntly, you would be dumb to look anywhere else,” one agent told Standig. “I think he is the best in the business.”
Standig adds Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham is another candidate who is expected to garner a ton of interest for any open GM jobs. He turned down the Cardinals last year and was a finalist for the Titans’ job.
He points out Cunningham knows new Commanders VP of football strategy Eugene Shen from their time together with the Ravens. Shen has a strong analytics background and Harris is known as an owner who has embraced analytics with his other professional teams.
In a related note, Standig highlights Eagles assistant GM Alec Halaby as a top analytics candidate if Harris wants to pursue a new GM with that background.
Other notable GM candidates that Standig lists, for Washington and other teams, include:
- Colts assistant GM Ed Dodds
- NFL chief administrator of football ops Dawn Aponte
- Buccaneers assistant GM Jon Spytek
- Ravens director of player personnel Joe Hortiz
- Chiefs VP of football ops Brandt Tilis
- Browns assistant GM Catherine Raiche
- Browns assistant GM Glenn Cook
- Lions assistant GM Ray Agnew
- Seahawks assistant GM Nolan Teasley
- Giants assistant GM Brandon Brown
The Commanders don’t currently have a GM vacancy but Harris is expected to make major structural changes this offseason. The Chargers and Raiders have fired their GMs already, and both Raiders interim GM Champ Kelly and Chargers interim GM JoJo Wooden are expected to receive consideration for the full-time position.
The Panthers have not given word one way or another on the status of GM Scott Fitterer but it would not be a shock to see them make a change. If the Patriots move on from HC Bill Belichick and create a more traditional organizational power structure, they’ll need to hire a GM too.
There could be other vacancies that come up as well depending on how the season plays out.
We’ll have more on the NFL GM hiring cycle as the news is available.
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