Ian CunninghamNASHVILLE, Tenn. – You don’t have to come from a winning team to be a good scout.
 
People drawing a line on the six men who appear to be the Titans finalists for GM, liking the ones who come from winning teams and disliking the ones who have not, are being too simplistic.
 
Ran Carthon came from the very successful 49ers. How did that work out? Jon Robinson came directly from the Bucs, a good organization, and spent the bulk of his career getting ready for a GM chance, with the Patriots, a model organization. He was great early and awful late.
 
People tend to look more favorably on Mike Borgonzi (Chiefs), John Spytek (Buccaneers), Terrance Gray (Bills) and Jon-Eric Sullivan (Packers) more favorably because those teams have had consistent success in recent times.
 
But it’s a mistake to simply cast off Ian Cunningham (pictured), the Bears' assistant general manager, or Ed Dodds, the Colts' assistant general manager, because their teams have not been good.

For starters, they could be making fantastic recommendations to their bosses but assistant GMs have only have so much sway.
 
Cunningham has only been with the Bears since 2022. He could be making fantastic recommendations to general manager Ryan Poles, but an assistant GM only has so much sway.
 
But Cunningham’s resume goes deeper.
 
He spent nine years with the Ravens as a personnel assistant and an area scout working under Ozzie Newsome, an all-time great executive, and with Eric Decosta, who succeeded Newsome in 2019.
 
Then in 2017 Cunningham moved on to the Eagles for five years. He worked under Howie Roseman a successful – if too strong – executive who’s been running that team since 2010. They’ve won a Super Bowl and lost another in that span.
 
Dodds joined the Colts in 2017 with Chris Ballard, and the Colts have made two playoff appearances in eight years, losing their first game both times. Dodds worked for a good for 10 years in Seattle before that, overlapping with John Schneider. Schenider is regarded as one of the NFL's best GMs.
 
Sullivan is an extreme example at the other end of the spectrum. He has worked only for the Packers, a quality organization, for his entire career. He started as a scouting intern there in 2003. I like him as a candidate. But is that definitely better?

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