How many NFL teams’ owners are also general managers?

“It’s time for Jerry Jones the owner to fire Jerry Jones the GM!” How many years have we been saying that? Too many...and yet, it’s never going to happen. Jones is steadfast on his stance that he is the only one who can properly manage the team. When anyone else even tried to step on his toes and make some decisions, he fired them (case in point, Jimmy Johnson, in case that wasn’t blatantly obvious on its own).

Just a few months ago, he went on a curse-filled rant about why no one else can do the job but him and until he “gets hit by a car”, he’s the Cowboys GM, so just go ahead and get over it already! And while he’s unwavering in this belief of his, the reality is that the Cowboys have not won a title in nearly three decades and their lack of success is largely due to the front office decision-making. But I digress.

NFL owners who act as GM

This begs the question of how normal this is in the NFL and the answer is, not very. As of the time of this writing (October 2024), Jerry Jones is the only NFL owner who also acts as general manager of the team he owns.

The Cincinnati Bengals do not have an official GM. Owner Mike Brown used to be the assistant general manager, but his official title now is just owner. Meanwhile, Duke Tobin, who is the Bengals’ director of player personnel is referred to as the de facto general manager.

For many years, the New England Patriots had head coach Bill Belichick acting as the general manager, which is also a rare occurrence in the NFL, but it has happened (Paul Brown, Vince Lombardi, Bill Walsh, to name a few).

The problem with these dual roles is obvious. It is a lot for one person to handle two separate jobs, and do them both well. And in Jones’ case, it’s caused power-battles and issues between he and his head coaches in the past.

Current NFL team owners:

Current NFL general managers: