|
When analyzing the qualities that bind the NFL's greatest minds, one word comes up: intuition. Instead of falling in love with a player's arm, his time in the 40 or his bench-press strength, a great evaluator of personnel has a feeling about a player's ability to improve, lead and win.
Just-retired Packers general manager Ron Wolf has told me a number of times he gets a "feeling" about players based on his experience. When asked what he learned from Wolf, Green Bay's new GM, coach Mike Sherman, said he just observed. The NFL offers no how-to guide on judging personnel. The great personnel minds have an idea that certain players will be great, even when other teams have overlooked or bypassed them.
Following are the people I believe have been the NFL's greatest evaluators of talent over the last 20 years, listed in alphabetical order:
|
Andrea Kremer's greatest football minds
|
Bobby Beathard and Joe Gibbs
| |  | |
| Gibbs |
| |  | |
| Beathard |
Beathard and Gibbs were one of the classic GM/coach combinations with the Redskins. They won three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks -- Joe Theismann, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien. They revitalized Williams, and drafted -- then developed -- Rypien, who was a sixth-round pick. Who was Timmy Smith, the Super Bowl record holder for most rushing yards in a game? He was a fifth-round draft pick. They set a standard with "The Hogs" on their offensive line. They also got "The Smurfs," their small receivers. Cornerback Darrell Green was a great draft pick who is still going strong. Beathard struggled as a GM without a coach the caliber of Gibbs.
|
Bill Parcells and George Young
| |  | |
| Young |
| |  | |
| Parcells |
Their Super Bowl record with the Giants speaks for itself. But as much as there was reported friction between the two, they worked well as a head coach and GM. They had a symbiotic relationship. Would they have been successful apart? It didn't require a great personnel acumen to spot Lawrence Taylor, but they also drafted players like Joe Morris in the second round and Mark Bavaro in the fourth round. Parcells had success in New England, but he wasn't able to win a Super Bowl. Remember, the reason he left New England is that he wasn't in charge of the personnel. Bobby Greer was. Then, he made horrible decisions with the Jets and put them in a salary-cap bind. If Young and Parcells had worked together with the Jets, you have to wonder how much better off they could have been.
|
Bill Polian
| |  | |
| Polian |
For any general manager, he works with scouts to help in the evaluation process. Plus, Polian had a chief personnel guru, John Butler, working with him in Buffalo. But he excelled at finding talent in the later rounds and built a team that appeared in four straight Super Bowls. He got Thurman Thomas in the second round and starting players like Don Beebe in the third, Andre Reed in the fourth, Marvcus Patton in the eighth and Carlton Bailey in the ninth.
|
Bill Walsh
| |  | |
| Walsh |
There are so many stories about who really picked Joe Montana in the third round, but there's no questioning Walsh's ability to spot talent. He plucked Steve Young from Tampa Bay and developed back-to-back Hall of Fame quarterbacks in San Francisco. That is enough in itself. He knew to trade up in 1985 to draft Jerry Rice from Mississippi Valley State. He drafted three starting defensive backs, including Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott, in 1981, when the 49ers won their first Super Bowl. In 1986, he drafted eight starting players who helped build a few more Super Bowl teams.
|
Ron Wolf
| |  | |
| Wolf |
When Wolf was with the Jets, he saw Brett Favre. The Falcons drafted Favre, but Wolf kept his eye on him. There was something he knew about Favre. He made arguably one of the best pickups ever, getting Favre from Atlanta. Wolf also pulled off one of the key free-agent moves of the era, luring Reggie White to Green Bay. Before getting to Green Bay, he was a behind-the-scenes personnel man with the Raiders for 10 years, and then was the architect of the Tampa Bay expansion team that ended up going to the NFC championship game in 1979. His glory came with two Super Bowl appearances in Green Bay. Nearly every year, he added a quarterback, whether he needed one or not. And look who the Packers turned out: Favre, Mark Brunell, Ty Detmer, Aaron Brooks and Matt Hasselbeck. Even Kurt Warner was brought to camp and cut in 1994. Wolf said his philosophy was to always grab and develop quarterbacks.
|
Jimmy Johnson (honorable mention)
| |  | |
| Johnson |
Even at the college level, he had an eye for talent. Johnson needs to be counted for the two Super Bowls that Dallas won while he was the coach, plus the one Barry Switzer won, because they were all done with Johnson's personnel. He drafted Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith and cultivated them. He built the Cowboys. But there's one strong caveat about Johnson: When he was given the power and control in Miami, he did not have a good personnel touch, making some very questionable decisions. Johnson the GM didn't serve Johnson the coach well with the Dolphins.
|
| |
|
