Expert Analysis
12/27/23
10 min read
How Successful NFL Front Offices Deal with Roster Adversity
This has been a season that's more unusual than most from the standpoint of so many top teams going through rough patches after battling key injuries and dealing with personnel issues due to the salary cap leading to free agency losses, draft picks not panning out and star players slumping.
It has created a huge challenge for general managers and coaches of top teams to handle the adversity as they try to return to the playoffs and have success if they get there.
Let’s take a look at teams that have particularly struggled and what courses of action exist to right the ship.
Receiver Issues Haunt Chiefs
Let’s start with the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. After being upset by the Las Vegas Raiders at home on Monday, the Chiefs have lost four of their last six games (including home games at Arrowhead against the Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo Bills and Raiders). The Chiefs’ biggest problem is poor quality and consistent wide receivers. That group is among the league leaders in drops with Kadarius Toney the major culprit.
A perfect pass from Patrick Mahomes that went through Toney’s hands turned into Brian Branch’s pick-six in the Detroit Lions’ season-opening upset of the Chiefs. Toney had another drop that would’ve set up a potential winning field goal in that game. His drops have continued and his offensive offside wiped out a potential winning touchdown against the Bills.
This year’s second-rounder Rashee Rice also has several drops. Skyy Moore, the Chiefs’ second-round pick in 2022, has been too inconsistent in his young career and had only 21 receptions for 244 yards and one TD before landing on injured reserve last week because of a knee injury.
The weak wide receiver corps has hurt the offense with points scored down significantly (from a league-leading 29.2 per game in 2022 to 22.8 per game, which ranks 11th ). Mahomes' passer rating has dropped from 105.2 (No. 3) to 91.7 (15th) with 14 interceptions (third most in the league) vs. 12 last season.
Defections, Injuries Hamper Eagles
The defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles had lost three straight before their one-score home win over the Giants on Christmas night. They’ve dealt with several issues starting with two excellent coordinators leaving for head coaching jobs — OC Shane Steichen to the Indianapolis Colts and DC Jonathan Gannon to the Arizona Cardinals.
Jalen Hurts has dealt with a knee issue and has not played as well under new OC Brian Johnson. Hurts’ passer rating has dropped from 101.5 with only five interceptions to 89.6 with 13 picks. The Philadelphia offense has dropped from third last season to eighth ranked.
GM Howie Roseman managed to keep a lot of key starters in free agency but an excellent guard — Isaac Seumalo — left for Pittsburgh.
Free agent departures significantly weakened the defense. It lost two starting linebackers (T.J. Edwards and Kyzir White, each of whom had more than 100 tackles last season), starting safeties C.J. Gardner-Johnson (who led the team with six interceptions) and Marcus Epps and a Pro Bowl defensive tackle in Javon Hargrave (to the rival 49ers).
Injuries affected key players such as Hurts, who has played through the knee discomfort, and Pro Bowl corner Darius Slay, who has missed two games including the loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 15, due to a knee injury.
The Eagles defense has taken a more precipitous drop than the offense, going from second-ranked to 20th. It allows four more points per game as new DC Sean Desai has dealt with many new starters and injuries.
Other Contenders Aren't Immune
The NFC’s current top team — the San Francisco 49ers — went through a rough patch in Weeks 6-8, losing three straight when WR Deebo Samuel and LT Trent Williams were injured.
The Dallas Cowboys have been soundly beaten in several road games, including a 28-16 upset at Arizona in Week 3 and two no-shows — 42-10 at San Francisco in Week 5 and 31-10 at Buffalo in Week 15. After losing in Miami on Sunday, Dallas is 3-5 on the road and looking at a likely wild card berth with all of its playoff games away from home, where it is 7-0.
The Buffalo Bills are 9-6 after fighting through QB Josh Allen’s turnovers. His 15 interceptions are second-most and were especially costly in defeats to the Jets (three) and Broncos (two). He has also lost three fumbles. Buffalo has had to overcome the loss of two Pro Bowl defenders — linebacker Matt Milano (leg fracture) and corner Tre’Davious White (torn Achilles). $20 million-per-year edge rusher Von Miller has no sacks in 10 games as he comes off last season’s ACL injury.
Two division winners from last season — the Cincinnati Bengals and Minnesota Vikings — have been up and down. They are fighting for a wild card spot after losing star QBs Joe Burrow (wrist) and Kirk Cousins (Achilles) for the year. Vikings All-Pro receiver Justin Jefferson also missed seven games due to a hamstring injury.
Another highly regarded team, the Detroit Lions, lost two of four in Weeks 11-14 (to division rivals Green Bay and Chicago) during Jared Goff's costly turnover stretch (eight in four games).
It seems as if only one team has stayed consistently excellent — the Baltimore Ravens, who just knocked off the 49ers in the battle of top conference seeds. The Ravens have not lost consecutive games and all their losses have been by one score. This is despite dealing with Pro Bowl tight end Mark Andrews’ ankle injury that resulted in him going on IR five weeks ago.
However, the Ravens have a bad recent playoff history to overcome as they have not been a final four team since 2012. Lamar Jackson’s postseason record is 1-3, and he must stay healthy to have a chance to change the narrative on his playoff failures and become a Super Bowl quarterback.
What's a Team To Do?
There are constant challenges and roster attrition during any season and it seems like the top teams are dealing with more of it this season. So how do a mostly successful coach and general manager deal with such adversity? Especially for GMs, there’s not much they can do after the trade deadline until next year’s free agency and draft.
The coach has control over lineup changes and game plans but injuries to key players present a major challenge in coaching up the less talented replacements. Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell found this out with the 12 turnovers by QBs Josh Dobbs and Nick Mullens in four recent losses as Minnesota has dropped from 6-4 to 7-8.
Ultimately it comes down to leadership and team leaders setting a positive tone, keeping spirits up and instilling a winning attitude. That starts with coaches and general managers and certainly with players who exude leadership.
It is top coaches and team execs like Andy Reid, Kyle Shanahan, Howie Roseman and John Lynch telling their teams they’ve been through rough stretches before and will battle their way out of it. They tell the players to keep working hard to overcome the difficulties.
Players Respond When Leaders Care
I always loved what former Vikings, Bears and Saints GM/Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Finks would say, “Keep sawing wood.”
It always was a priority of mine to continuously reinforce a positive attitude in good and tough times. I believed in being a walk-around CEO as Minnesota Vikings GM and Tennessee Titans President in the 1990s and early 2000s.
General managers and team presidents who sat in their offices and rarely mingled with the coaches and players made a big mistake.
I talked with our coaches and players at breakfast and lunch in the team facility. I went to practice every day to show that I was interested and involved and I’d chat with coaches and players after practice.
During the preseason, I would have lunch on the road with a team leader such as Cris Carter in Minnesota and Eddie George in Tennessee. That was to check the pulse of the team in a confidential conversation. I’d ask if they needed anything and what I could do to help.
It’s how I learned the players were annoyed by being charged for meals in the Titans facility, which didn’t happen with most teams. So too many players would go out of the building for unhealthy fast food. I convinced our owner to change that policy.
At the Titans, we worked through tough times such as in 2002 when we started 1-4. The media and fans called for coach Jeff Fisher to be fired after a bad home loss to Washington. Even our owner Bud Adams left the game early and made negative comments to the media on his way out.
We had a talented team led by Pro Bowl players such as George, QB Steve McNair and defensive end Jevon Kearse. And we had an excellent coach in Fisher who stayed positive.
I told everyone I saw — coaches, players, Bud Adams — that we had been a Super Bowl team just a couple years before and we basically had the same team. So I said to keep believing in the team, continue to work hard and we’d get back on top. We won 10 of the next 11 games to finish that 2002 regular season 11-5. We won our division and beat the Steelers in the divisional round before losing to the Raiders in the AFC Championship.
Champions Must Battle Through Adversity
I learned early in my rookie season as a young PR and Operations staff member from Vikings coach Bud Grant to try and put blinders on to the outside noise and trust the process. My first day on the job was five days after the Vikings lost to the Cowboys on Roger Staubach’s famous Hail Mary to Drew Pearson. That loss led to a determined 1976 Vikings team that made it to the Super Bowl.
All around the NFL, the coaches, general managers and team captains of playoff contenders are working hard in practices. While behind the scenes in the locker room and team meetings, they are instilling positive vibes in everyone connected with the team.
Cris Carter once gave me a photo of a bandaged player sitting in a muddy uniform and the caption read, “Champions are rarely chosen from the ranks of the unscarred.” Truer words were never spoken — in sports or in life.
The team that wins this year’s Super Bowl will become the latest example of that adage.
