Are NFL GMs Getting Smarter… or Just Luckier? And What It Means for Fantasy GMs | On the Couch
The Audible
Footballguys
4.6 • 1.9K Ratings
🗓️ 6 June 2026
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of On the Couch, Sigmund Bloom sits down with Patrick Daugherty to dig into one of the most important — and misunderstood — questions in football: Are NFL general managers actually getting better… or are we just grading them on vibes and results.
Pat's annual GM rankings spark a wide‑ranging conversation about team‑building, risk‑taking, politics inside front offices, and how fantasy managers can learn from the best (and worst) decision‑makers in the league. From blockbuster trades to quiet roster construction, Bloom and Pat break down what separates the sharp GMs from the ones who are just surviving.
This one goes deep — team philosophy, talent evaluation, organizational psychology, and how all of it trickles down to fantasy football strategy.
watch on YouTube -> https://youtube.com/live/uk8W88gMTDQ
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 — Is John Schneider coming for Howie Roseman's crown 05:00 — Will the AJ Brown trade go down as a Howie masterstroke 10:09 — Is AJ Brown going to be happy in New England 13:08 — Does losing AJ Brown expose Jalen Hurts 19:13 — Why Monti Ossenfort ranks dead last 27:21 — What we know (and don't know) about the three new NFL GMs 32:06 — Does the Myles Garrett trade redeem the Ty Simpson pick for the Rams 38:29 — Why great NFL and fantasy GMs must take risks 43:40 — Why political GMs might actually be the worst GMs
🎧 Subscribe to the podcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Vx0kjA5n4d4wdMspVmoKo?si=27db2d7566bf4cb5 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/footballguys-the-audible-fantasy-football-info-for/id178083008
🏆 Become a Footballguys ELITE Subscriber
https://www.footballguys.com/plans
👾 Join the Footballguys Discord
https://discord.com/invite/kdPzSM5mux
📩 Stay Updated
https://join.footballguys.com/emailupdate
👍 If you enjoy deep‑dive conversations like this, hit LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and drop your GM rankings in the comments — who's the best in the league right now.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | No, man. |
| 0:02.5 | We're just surfing, even though we're made out of snow, trying not to melt, keeping it cool. |
| 0:08.6 | Who's cooler than Pat dirty? |
| 0:10.2 | It's time to find out Pat. |
| 0:12.4 | I just messed up the cold open. |
| 0:13.6 | Sorry, Cecil. |
| 0:14.2 | It's because I love my friend Pat so much. |
| 0:16.4 | Where we're going to start is, is John Schneider coming for Howie Roseman's belt. |
| 0:24.1 | That more this week on the couch. All right, Pat, it's one of our rituals now. |
| 0:27.8 | You write a wonderful piece where you rank the 29 GMs. |
| 0:31.7 | You don't rank the new GMs, but you give your profile of the GMs. |
| 0:35.8 | And Howie Roseman's number one, but there's a new contender for the title. |
| 0:40.3 | There is. |
| 0:41.3 | And by the way, the big change to this article since I went live is the Vikings now have a GM. |
| 0:47.3 | So this was the first time I've ever, the first time I had ever done this exercise with a vacant front office. |
| 0:52.3 | So that was interesting. Schneider, so he's emblematic of a lot of things. |
| 0:58.2 | I would say he's most emblematic of just how difficult of an exercise this is. |
| 1:02.6 | When I started doing it, the Seahawks were riding high in the Legion of Boom Days. I think the first year I did it was 2014. |
| 1:09.3 | And Pete Carroll, John Schneider were arguably the top |
| 1:12.5 | coach executive tandem in the entire league and had him in the top five. I'm sure the first |
| 1:18.7 | several years I did it. And as it went on, he became one of those guys. Every year, the fans, |
| 1:23.9 | like, you got him too high. You got him too high. He got him too high. And we too high you got him too high and we're several |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 9 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Footballguys, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Footballguys and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.