Bottom Tier – These Guys Actually Sabotage Their Rosters
Vet
Drama
Drama should be in his own tier for the disaster class of GMing he’s put on for 3 cycle straight now. It’s reflective how badly in shambles your team is by Year 4 of how much you’ve mismanaged your team, and Drama has done that once again with the Texans. Continuously going win now in year 2 and sacrificing the rest of the cycle is a bizarre pattern to uphold, but Drama does it time and time again.
Vet is here because of how poorly he handled the Browns’s tight cap situation this cycle. Not only that, he sabotaged the lack of cap space with questionable signings of guys like Kareem Hunt and Tyler Higbee while letting young talent walk out of the building free of charge.
I Tier – Primarily Doing Nothing Good
Jefe
CEO
Deebo
These guys can mask their questionable GM work with winning games, but by Seasons 4 and 5 these guys never have top rosters, yet a bunch of salary cap space laying waste. It’s not that they don’t try, it’s that they don’t try enough in the competitive landscape of PML where the competition is almost as tough in GM’ing as it is on the gridiron.
H Tier – Is This A Stroke Of Brilliance Or Are They Suffering From A Stroke
Bandit
DK
Hypemike
Ant
These guys are very active GMs, but when it’s all said and done you wonder if they’ve done their team a justice or a disservice for different reasons. Hypemike the last 2 seasons has gotten a bottom tier roster and has never left the basement.
DK seems to never have good drafts and tries to rely on chasing star players too heavily, and then shows up with a bunch of 60 and low 70 overalls starting by week 1. Ant just love to draft too much. Ant constantly throws away elite talent just to get first round picks and makes you wonder how much better off he’d be if he just built upon his already set foundation.
And Tbandit begging for OLine all cycle long and finding a way to never trade for a good one or develop any for awhile was a weird subplot of Madden 23. Bubba and KMFO have shown us how dominant of a roster you can build in Buffalo, and Tbandit failed to follow those footsteps.
G Tier – Rookies Trying To Find Their Way
CB
DOC
CB and DOC have shown some flashes that, with a full cycle, their stock can raise. But for now they have primarily shown the desire to dismantle their current rosters instead of building upon them. Sorry rooks but you’ll be getting a harsh grading for now.
F Tier – Decent Drafters But Questionable Moves Otherwise
Mali
HD
LQ
Wumbo
Goose
All very active GMs, but you wonder if they’re too active. Nonetheless, they don’t seem to be sabotaging their teams for the most part. But sometimes you wonder if they are. Sometimes these guys have their strokes of brilliance too.
But then you get LQ trading for season 5 Bryce Young, HD trading a first round pick and great young LT Slater to move up 10 spots in the draft and take a non-game-changing DT, Mali trading away a QB in Patrick Mahomes who has the best ability in the game, Goose traded away the #1 overall pick for Matt Ionnidis(!!!), and Wumbo trading away pick #2 in a Madden 22 draft for some mid players. And you wanna slap them in the back of the head
E Tier – Will Make Some Questionable Moves, Some Great Moves, And Mostly Good Moves
Burn
Nef
Bubba
Curt
These guys all shine in a particular category but also have a clear weakness. Burn is great at navigating a tricky cap situation. Nef is a great drafter, especially knowing how the DDT works. Bubba is a great trader and will always get an elite player to fit his style. And Curt is great at developing players over the course of a season.
But they also have a clear weakness. For Burn, it’s developing elite talent. For Nef, pretty much everything besides drafting, like giving out horrible contracts in free agency. For Bubba, it’s being able to draft good talent outside of the first round. And for Curt, it’s managing the salary cap by not taking on/signing bad contracts.
D Tier – They Build A Good Enough Roster For Their Style To Compete At Least, But Still Unproven
Que
Wimmy
Spot
Matigy
This tier can be split into 2 groups. Wimmy and Que have been around for a minute. While neither guy seems to consistently have strokes of brilliance, they also don’t sabotage their team (which is a skill believe it or not). Que used to be an bottom Tier, but this cycle has embraced team building more.
The second group is Spot and Matigy, who might be worst GMs than we think they are. Did the Bears and Raiders get developed better than most teams? Debatable. But they are not losing games because of their rosters right now which we’ll take as a positive and re-evalaute them next cycle
C Tier – Can Always Maintain A Good Roster Every Year While Still Winning
Z
Uncle Mike
I struggled on whether to put these guys in B tier or give them their own tier. You can see what I decided on, and it’s based on these guys not consistently being able to draft and develop elite talent.
But I feel like there is a big jump from D to C tier. These two vets usually have their teams figured out by Year 3 will never put their rosters in jeopardy with any moves they make. Z has made a big jump this cycle by turning the Seahawks into a top team quickly, but he still can find another level of aggression. Uncle Mike might be too aggressive, with his desire to finesse GMs getting in the way of getting deals done.
B Tier – Great Drafters, Will Never Get In Cap Trouble
Cammy
JT
Dlloyd
JAC
These guys might be the best drafters from round 1 to round 7 in PML. Dlloyd and Cammy have proven they can do this whether they’re having winning cycles or losing cycles. These guys will give you a Season 5 reaction of “Who is this guy on their roster and why is he so good?”
JT obviously tanks at the beginning of every cycle for some of his success and cheats for his other half of success, being the man that builds the draft classes. But you can’t argue with how cracked those Panthers are by Season 5 every cycle. But I can’t put JT higher because of how long it takes for him to develop his team.
Jac might have been on his way to S tier if he didnt get booted this cycle.
A Tier – Will Make Big Splash Moves And Finesse Some Users
Ke
Codes
Fallen
When these guys enter your DMs, be very afraid. Because they constantly seek to win big splash trades, and will successfully pull off a few every cycle. Fallen has traded for an X-Factor QB with the best ability in the game the past 2 cycles. Codes seems to find a farm system and suck them dry (Steelers last cycle, Browns this cycle). And Ke has honed his craft in finding a way to get multiple top picks each draft without denting the foundation of his roster to move up.
These 3 also will hit big on in the draft, and better than that will excel at developing their young talent.
S Tier – Can Turn Around A Bad Roster Quickly And Continuously Develop Every Year
JC
Arod
Greeny
This is the cream of the crop, and they’ve done it in different ways. JC’s only two cycles consist of taking over dumpster fires mid cycle (Packers and Colts) and immediately making them a contender, and then a top roster in the league filled with budding young talent.
Greeny has navigated 3 completely different situations in stride. He developed a solid Colts roster in Madden 21 into a group of studs. In Madden 22 he took over a hilariously bad Patriots team and made them competent by the end of the cycle. And this year has taken a Falcons team mostly deprived of great talent and built one of the best 53 man rosters in the league.
And Arod gets it done in all areas. He is not afraid to make big splashes in free agency. He will always be aggressively trading players and picks and moving them around like pieces on a chess board. And he never really has a bad draft…even if that’s partially added by always having a losing record. Arod’s GM skills shined their brightest last cycle when SPDot took over his Jets and immediately made back to back Super Bowl appearances.
