In the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

, the general manager (GM) of a team typically controls player transactions and bears the primary responsibility on behalf of the team during contract discussions with players. The

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

is also normally the person who hires and fires the coaching staff, including the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

. The general manager will in many cases have oversight of the entire football department, typically reporting to the

team president A president is a leader of an organization, company, community, club, trade union, university or other group. The relationship between a president and a chief executive officer varies, depending on the structure of the specific organization. In a ...

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and/or

owner Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...

. However, some teams have the GM act in advisory role with the head coach having oversight of the football operations (including the GM). Some teams do not have official general managers, but instead have a ''de facto'' GM. Similar positions include President of Football Operations.

Bill Belichick William Stephen Belichick (; born April 16, 1952) is an American professional football coach who is the head coach of the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). Additionally, he exercises extensive authority over the Patri ...

of the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

is an example of a coach who is the de facto general manager; he has never been officially named or granted the title of general manager but he has the final say in football operations.

Responsibilities

The general manager typically will typically lead the scouting department of the football team. The scouting department’s role is to scout college players who are entering the

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

each year. Many general managers start their tenure as a low-level scout in the scouting department and work their way up the ladder to either be promoted or hired to a different team as a general manager. To prepare for the NFL Draft, general managers, along with the scouting department and coaching staff, will attend college games, the

NFL Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Footba ...

, and pro workout days to gain more knowledge on college players. During the NFL Combine, players will interview with the general manager and his team and are typically asked difficult questions to find if the player does well under stress. The NFL Combine is also a place for general managers to meet with other general managers of other teams to discuss potential trades of players. The GM is also responsible for negotiating contracts and deals with a

salary cap In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Sever ...

. Along with the general manager, football teams usually have assistant coaches specifically for coaching certain positions. It is not feasible for the general manager to maintain close relationships with all of the assistant coaches, making it essential he work amiably and intimately with the head coach. Although the general manager has more authority, it is the head coach whom players generally look up to and who is most often in the public spotlight. This can create tension between a coach and general manager and has caused instability for some franchises. General Managers must attend meetings with the media and make statements on behalf of the team. Although general managers only have to work for about eight months out of the year, they work around 100 hours a week or more during the season.

References

* American football occupations American football terminology {{american-football-stub