There are objective requirements for every job at every NFL team. With one exception.
There are no experience or educational requirements to be an owner.
It is one of the most fascinating aspects of professional football. Companies whose value rises into the ten-figure range are still run like mom-and-pop shops. When dad dies, mother or son or daughter or nephew or someone else in the family takes charge. Regardless of whether they know anything about running a football team.
This is happening all over the league. Unless family members choose to cash out (or are not required to do so in order to pay inheritance taxes), this position falls into someone who would never be hired to run a multi-billion dollar company, whether through blood or marriage.
The latest example of people who run NFL teams not necessarily having the skills to run an NFL team comes from Tennessee, which voted this week to fire head coach Mike Vrabel. The decision came from Amy Adams Strunk. She is the daughter of Bud Adams, whose estate plan divided the team among the three branches of his family tree, but inexplicably did not give one of them control of the teams.
This became a low-profile mess for the league and the Titans for several years until a deal was negotiated that put Strunk in charge. As in many other situations in the NFL (Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Houston, LA Chargers, Las Vegas, Dallas, New York Giants, Detroit, Chicago, Tampa Bay, New Orleans, San Francisco, Arizona, Seattle) control is up Flowed inside a specific family from the person who bought or founded the team. There is no guarantee that the person who has inherited the ability to lead a team will ever be equipped to do so.
TheAthletic.com took a deep dive into how things went sideways between Strunk and head coach Mike Vrabel. They range from Strunk, who was reportedly upset by Vrabel's belief that Ran Carthon wasn't ready to be GM, to Strunk, who was reportedly annoyed by the praise Vrabel heaped on the Patriots when he was inducted into the team's Hall of Fame.
Neither has anything to do with how Vrabel coaches a football team. Or, for example, how he managed to win the No. 1 pick despite having 91 different players on the 53-man roster in 2021.
Here's the reality of dealing with a great head coach. You have to find a way to deal with him. Robert Kraft did it for 24 years in New England, even if Bill Belichick was at times (or always, if necessary) not the easiest person in the world to get along with. The reward for finding a way to live with a challenging personality was six Lombardi Trophies.
The 49ers would have won their sixth by now if Jed York had known how to find a solution to coach Jim Harbaugh, who was fired after three NFC Championship appearances (and a Super Bowl) in four seasons. But Harbaugh was seen as difficult and egos and personalities got involved when Harbaugh was just trying to win as many football games as possible.
Coach Coach. The whole time. They see someone not doing things as well as they could and tell them so.
They are blunt. They are direct. They strategically withhold praise. They push those around them relentlessly.
Great coaches know what they are doing. The problem is that the owners — especially those who saw control of the team coming at them like a coin collection or a classic car — have no idea what they're doing. And they definitely have no way of knowing if they have a great coach.
Until maybe it's too late.
The 49ers should have found a way to work with Harbaugh. The Titans should have found a way to work with Vrabel. The Patriots have found a way to make it work with Belichick for as long as possible and then some.
This is one reason the league would be better off if all teams were corporations. Even if it's not perfect, it would be better. There would be a CEO who earned the job, not who got it. There would be a board of directors to provide oversight and accountability when, for example, the CEO might be tempted to let petty things poison the relationship with a key employee.
Until then, fans are mere spectators in the various family dramas that will shape the direction of their favorite NFL teams, sometimes for decades.
Except in Green Bay. Those in power there inevitably fell into an ideal management structure decades ago when a cash shortage led to a stock sale. Even if the stocks fans buy have no value, the real value lies in ensuring that the people running the team are qualified at all times.