If you were to rank the NFL's general managers 1 to 32, where would the combination of New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick and vice president of player personnel Nick Caserio be?
Patrick Daugherty of Rotoworld produced his annual GM rankings on Tuesday, which sparks the question. Daugherty puts Belichick first, and we've taken the liberty to include Caserio, a vital cog in the front office, to the analysis. This marks the second year in a row the Patriots occupy the No. 1 spot in Rotoworld's rankings.
"Bill Belichick's blind spots as a personnel man are well known," Daugherty writes. "The greatest football mind of the 21st century can't draft wide receivers or cornerbacks to save his life. But when Belichick looks in the rear-view mirror, the only object closer than it appears is his fourth Super Bowl title. Even the best have weaknesses, but no one in today's NFL can match Belichick's strengths."
Rankings like these can yield some good offseason debate. On top of that, one thing that is appreciated about the rankings at this address is the league-wide context they provide. With team reporters, sports-radio hosts and fans sometimes putting a laser focus on one team, those clubs are often held to a tough-to-reach standard without the fair question of "How do they stack up to their competition?" being asked.
As for Belichick's blind spots, he can most recently fall back on receiver Julian Edelman (7th round, 2009) and cornerback Malcolm Butler (undrafted, 2014) as pretty good chips on his side of the table.
After all, if we were to make a ranking of players that had the most significant impact on Super Bowl XLIX, they'd be pretty high on the list.