What about the GM?
This past offseason, the Buccaneers did the right thing extending the current contract of the youngest General Manager in the NFL. Dominik is starting to get noticed nationwide, including a recent article naming him the seventh best GM in the NFL today. It is an elite company in the top quarter of the league, including guys who have won Championships with teams they have created.
Clearly other people believe Dominik is on his way to achieving the same goal. While he already has a ring from 2002 when he was in the pro personnel department, it's not the same as build-your-own.
Eight teams, or a quarter of the NFL, changed general managers in 2008, with Tampa Bay's promotion of Dominik from within being one of them. The other seven and their rankings in the article linked above:
- Cleveland, who fired their GM less than one year after hiring him
- Denver, #28 (Brian Xanders)
- Detroit, #8 (Martin Mayhew)
- Jacksonville, #29 (Gene Smith)
- Kansas City, #12 (Scott Pioli)
- New England, #11 (Bill Bellicheck)
- Saint Louis, #21 (Billy Devaney)
It's been less than three seasons, and granted some of these men inherited a disaster. Some started ahead like New England. But fortunately Tampa Bay had someone already familiar with the way things work inside One Buccaneer Place, and Dominik has worked it to his advantage ever since.
Don't overlook Detroit and the high regard for their GM. They clearly found the right man as well.
It's a solid Top Five in the GM rankings above, and appears to be a very hard group to crack. To get there, Dominik will have to win a championship.
Seems that more and more people are believing that he will.