5 NFL general managers who would win Olympic gold medals at salary cap gymnastics

It's science, really. While many of our country's finest are doing their best to make America proud over in Paris, many front-office executives are doing their part to assemble the best NFL rosters possible. In the Olympics, there are only so many roster spots to be had heading into qualifications and whatnot. In the NFL, there are only so many ways you can slice the pie in hard salary-capped league.

Even though they may not be breaking a sweat inside of their suits, they are certainly breaking a sweat upstars in their massively domed noggins, trying desperately to make the pieces fit. Salary cap gymnastics have become an even more important part of the game in recent years. It is all about paying your best players a premium before other teams pay their best players a premium after you.

Yes, you can try to be a cheapskate by nickling and diming every player you come across, but most people don't want to play for the Cincinnati Bengals or Los Angeles Chargers for that very reason. Until every NFL contract is fully-guaranteed, there will be some variations of flexibility every front-office executive will try to do when it comes to creative accounting. Some are better than others.

Here are the five NFL general managers who are a cut above the rest when it comes to saving money.

5. Philadelphia Eagles GM Howie Roseman

For my money, Howie Roseman has long been one of the best general managers in football. Even though Chip Kelly saw no value in him, we all knew that to be factually incorrect. In the years since excessive hydration charts went out of style, in came crushing in the draft. No matter who they end up picking, I usually end up having high grades when it comes to the Philadelphia Eagles' draft moves.

The reason I have this top-three general manager only fifth is salary cap gymnastics is not his greatest strength. Roseman is elite at the NFL Draft. Where I will give him a pat on the back in this is I never really feel like the Eagles have an albatross contract on their books. Not every player pans out for them, but even with extensions galore, I never get a feeling the Eagles are behind the eight ball.

Roseman is a terrific general manager across the board, but others are better at cap gymnastics.

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers GM Jason Licht

It took a while for him to really get his due, but Jason Licht has long been a fantastic general manager for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Like Howie Roseman in Philadelphia, he tends to draft well and rarely overpays for mid-tier players in free agency. While I wouldn't say he is as good as Roseman, he is still one of the better men at his job in the profession. I sense that he is better at salary cap gymnastics.

While it may not have worked out as the Buccaneers would have liked, the run it back team of 2021 was an incredible financial move Licht was able to pull off. Although he does let players go from time to time, he has always been able to see value in players that others may not. Like Roseman, he does draft well, but I sense that his ability to gain value to his team during free agency is Licht's best trait.

The Buccaneers have stayed on top in the NFC South the last few years because of Licht's strengths.

3. Los Angeles Rams GM Les Snead

Even though he has lost a little bit of his shine in recent years, I would suspect that Les Snead would have won gold in salary cap gymnastics during his run leading the Los Angeles Rams front office. He does have a dominant protege in Brad Holmes over in Detroit, but Snead had a brand that we had not seen since Joe Gibbs way back in the 1980s. Snead went all f**k them picks and won the Super Bowl.

The 2021 Rams were always going to be a one-off, but Snead's draft strategy, or lack thereof, allowed him to focus in on his own players, extend them appropriately and not get distracted about things outside their building. Admittedly, it was not a sustainable model, but one that the Rams navigated to perfection. They're more like everyone else now, but they should be commended for being innovative.

Other general managers may get more notoriety today than Snead, but I still remember what he did.

2. Kansas City Chiefs GM Brett Veach

Along with Howie Roseman in Philadelphia, you cannot have a top three when it comes to NFL general managers and not have Brett Veach part of it. He has been utterly sensational since taking over the Kansas City Chiefs. Like Roseman and Tampa Bay's Jason Licht, Veach can kind of do it all. Although he does draft well for the most part, his ability to manipulate the salary cap has helped set him apart.

No, he is not perfect at this, as he will lose players to free agency. Even if not every free-agent signing he makes pans out for the Chiefs, the thing that he does better than just about anyone is to never give out an atrocious contract, while simultaneously finding new and creative ways to get under the cap. It is remarkable, really. The Chiefs could be something like $10 million over, and he will find a way.

Veach is arguably the best general manager in football because he always find ways to make it work.

1. New Orleans Saints GM Mickey Loomis

There was no one else for top billing here. It was like Mickey Loomis was born to do this. Nobody, and I mean nobody, does a better job of kicking the proverbial can down the road quite the like general manager of the New Orleans Saints. Has this tactic torn away at the very fabric of what once made the Saints a great operation? Oh, absolutely! Too bad old habits die hard, as Loomis will never change.

Outside of the Baltimore Ravens, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers, who does a better job of staving off a rebuild than New Orleans? I could be wrong, but I feel like Loomis invented the concept of deferred money in his sleep. He is the Simone Biles of NFL salary cap gymnastics. Loomis has invented so many tricks in the book, eventing more moves than anyone to over do this.

He has forgotten more about salary cap gymnastics than Veach and Roseman learned combined.