Being a General Manager in the NFL is one of the hardest jobs in sports, and that's evident in our power rankings ahead of Week 12. It's both the hardest and the easiest job, because all it often takes is just one player. Getting the franchise QB in the building fixes about 75% of an organization's issues.
A perfect, recent example of this is the Houston Texans, who were a dumpster fire in 2022 and in the playoffs in 2023. Hitting on CJ Stroud was the turning point for this franchise, and now we're looking at the Texans as being a disappointment this year a bit even though they are 7-4.
And another good example of this is the New York Giants, who doubled-down on Daniel Jones and are paying the price. We tried to power-rank all 32 GMs in the NFL ahead of Week 12, and we tried to use the 2024 results thus far as the biggest factor in their ranking.
NFL Power Rankings: Rankings all 32 General Managers ahead of Week 12
32. Joe Schoen, New York Giants
Alright man, enough is enough. I would be shocked if Joe Schoen was still in this role in 2025, as he has been a downright awful GM for the New York Giants, and Giants fans simply deserve better. The team doubled-down on Daniel Jones two offseasons ago and inked him to a four-year, $160 million contract.
It's turned into one of the worst contracts in NFL history, and earlier this week, Jones was demoted to the fourth-string QB. It's been a horrid stretch for the G-Men in recent years, and Schoen is the primary culprit here.
31. Trent Baalke, Jacksonville Jaguars
Trent Baalke fielded what appeared to be the best roster that the Jacksonville Jaguars ever had, but it's now turned into a 2-9 record and a head coach in Doug Pederson very much on the hot seat. Baalke himself may not survive into 2025 himself, and, while he's had no issues being aggressive with some of his roster moves, the Jags to still have a ton of roster flaws.
Baalke has not been able to unlock this team in the Trevor Lawrence era, and it may be time for a new voice to try and do that.
30. Tom Telesco, Las Vegas Raiders
Tom Telesco clearly failed in his first offseason with the Las Vegas Raiders, and the mistakes are already piling up. He made Antonio Pierce the full-time head coach, and he might just be the worst HC in the NFL. He overpaid for defensive tackle Christian Wilkins in free agency. He also overpaid for Gardner Minshew and failed to land one of the six first-round QBs in the 2024 NFL Draft.
With the 2025 NFL Draft not projected to be a strong QB class, where do the Raiders go from here? Telesco had a failed tenure with the Chargers and is on pace to again have a failed tenure with his second AFC West team.
29. Ran Carthon, Tennessee Titans
Ran Carthon was aggressive last offseason, but the QB position is a mess, and he seemed to throw all of his chips into Will Levis for 2024 at least. I do understand what he was trying to do - he loaded up the offense a bit and was giving Levis a decent shot to be the guy, and he isn't. With a first-year head coach in Brian Callahan, Carthon can't really be any higher on this list.
We'll see how they approach the QB situation in 2025.