The 7 Habits of Highly Effective NFL Franchises

Some NFL franchises get it, and some don't.

It's easy to see: Some teams seem to get it right all the time, and some teams manage to make the same mistakes time and time again. Some teams make head-scratching offseason moves in the spring, only to, predictably, reap rewards in the fall. Some teams make head-scratching moves in the spring, only to, predictably, have them backfire.

What do the smart teams do right that the other teams do wrong? In a cutthroat league of razor-thin margins, how do some teams make the postseason unscathed for years on end? How do some teams find a way to get sliced to ribbons again and again?

Just like '90s businesspeople, highly effective NFL franchises share seven habits. You can see them in use across the NFL, and in the year-in, year-out decision-making of the perennial playoff winners.

Is your favorite team a highly effective NFL franchise and you want to know how it keeps pulling it off? Or is it highly ineffective and you want to know what your team keeps getting wrong?

No. 1: Be Proactive

Too often, NFL teams are reactive. They seek to correct what went wrong last year, rather than plan for the future. This causes teams to swing and miss on free agents, overdraft need positions and miss opportunities.

In 2011, the Chicago Bears failed to back up quarterback Jay Cutler with anyone more reliable than Caleb Hanie; their playoff hopes evaporated when Cutler went down with an injury. After they slid to 7-7, the Bears signed Nathan Enderle, and in the offseason they added Jason Campbell and Josh McCown.

Any of those quarterbacks might have saved 2011 had they been in camp that summer, but it's likely that none will help the Bears win in 2012.

Meanwhile, the Eagles drafted Nick Foles in the third round this year, despite having Michael Vick, Mike Kafka and Trent Edwards already on the roster. Why? The Eagles know the quarterback position is integral to what they do, and they will likely need Foles in two or three years, when he's ready to contribute.

That's why the Eagles have made the playoffs nine of the last 12 years, while the Bears have managed just four appearances in the same span.

No. 2: Have a Clear Vision

It all starts at the top: Highly successful NFL franchises always have effective leaders working together.

Whether the owners directly involve themselves in day-to-day football activities, a committee divvies up responsibilities or authority is delegated through several layers of management, NFL franchises must be led effectively.

Highly effective NFL franchises know exactly what their on- and off-field identity will be. From the style of play on the field, to their policy on player acquisition and development, to their game-day experience and marketing plans, successful NFL franchises know exactly what kind of product they want to sell to whom and why.

The players have to listen to their position coaches. The position coaches have to share the coordinators' goals. The coordinators have to reflect the head coach's vision. The scouts have to understand what the coaches are looking for. The front office has to trust the scouts, but use their own judgment; their judgment has to be in service of the coaches they've hired.

Franchises benefit from that shared vision and the continuity that results. The Detroit Lions have had the same president, general manager, head coach and offensive and defensive coordinators since the close of their 0-16 debacle. The results over the ensuing three seasons? Records of 2-14, 6-10, 10-6 and the playoffs.

With the front office and coaching staffs returning for 2012, the National Football Post put Jim Schwartz atop its Head Coach Power Rankings. Effective, indeed.

No. 3: Draft on Importance, Not Urgency

Effective leaders with clear visions for their teams draft on importance, not urgency. They draft players who are clear fits for their medium- and long-term goals, prioritizing position need accordingly. They do NOT draft whatever player happens to play a position of urgent need.

Many ridicule Matt Millen for his awful drafting, but few understand why his Detroit Lions drafts were so unsuccessful. Millen's problem was repeatedly drafting the best player available at the position of the most immediate need. He frequently reached for players that didn't fit his coaches' visions and often had to re-draft the same positions a few years later.

When the Lions started the 2010 season, they had no players left on the roster from their 2002 to 2006 drafts, inclusive. Because Millen tried to immediately "fill holes" with rookies, they were left with a huge empty hole where the core of their roster was supposed to be.

No. 4: Think "Pass and Stop the Pass"

The old truism that teams should "run and stop the run" has been turned on its head. Today's highly successful NFL teams pass and stop the pass.

Why? In 2011, the NFL's most effective rushing team was the Carolina Panthers, averaging 5.4 yards per carry. The NFL's least effective rushing team was the New York Giants, averaging 3.5 yards per carry. That's less than two yards' difference between No. 1 and No. 32.

Of course, the Panthers went 6-10, while the Giants won the Super Bowl—but that's not the critical thing.

The average NFL team rushed for 4.3 yards per carry, and 25 of the NFL's 32 teams rushed for within a half-yard of that mean figure. That means if you draft running backs highly and build your offensive line to run-block and draft a running quarterback, you can be, at best, a yard per attempt better than average.

That's not enough return on investment.

Meanwhile, the 15-1 Green Bay Packers led the NFL with an 8.92 yards-per-pass average, and the 5-11 Jacksonville Jaguars brought up the rear, averaging 4.65 yards per attempt. That's more than four yards' difference between the best and the worst; the Packers are also more than two yards clear of the NFL mean of 6.75 yards per attempt.

The upshot of all these numbers? Being better at passing, and stopping the pass, gives you more than twice the advantage that being better at running and stopping the run does.

No. 5: Seek First a Franchise Quarterback

In today's NFL, the quarterback is everything. Teams routinely overdraft quarterbacks in the first round, and it's easy to see why: Those that hit on franchise quarterbacks make the playoffs year in, year out for a decade.

Teams that don't, don't.

The Indianapolis Colts found out the hard way just how much they'd been leaning on former quarterback Peyton Manning when he was suddenly unavailable. Since his rough-and-ready rookie campaign, the Colts made the playoffs 11 times out of the 12 subsequent seasons Manning played.

Without him, of course, they went 2-14.

Is it any wonder the Colts didn't hesitate to take Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck with their first draft pick? If everything goes to plan, they'll again have a decade of the confidence in the most important position on the field—and another decade of playoff appearances.

No. 6: Synergize

The whole of a team is more than the sum of its parts. Highly effective NFL franchises get better performance from similar talent.

How? Partly, it's a natural outgrowth of the other habits: a clear team vision, front office, coaches and scouts all working towards that vision, and players that understand what's expected of them.

But mostly, it's a culture and approach instilled by the coaches and veteran leadership.

For years, the New England Patriots boasted one of the NFL's best defenses. Built around a couple of legitimately elite talents up front (Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork), vocal leaders like Tedy Bruschi (and later, Rodney Harrison) instilled a "Next Man Up" policy.

This meant that no matter a player's salary, draft status or depth chart status, he'd be expected by his teammates to produce like a front-line starter when called upon. Veteran star cornerback Ty Law went down; undrafted free agent Randall Gay stepped up and started during the Patriots' Super Bowl victory that year.

That only happens when the scouts, front office, coaching staff and players are all working together to be more than the sum of their parts.

No. 7: Feed Your Strengths

In 2006, the Pittsburgh Steelers boasted, as usual, an impressive linebacking corps; their four starters were James Farrior, Larry Foote, Joey Porter and Clark Haggans.

In the 2007 draft, many expected the Steelers to address pressing needs along the offensive line and in the secondary. But the Steelers' leadership knew better: They fed their strength.

They drafted inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons in the first round and outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley in the second. They knew their strength, their differentiator, what made them elite, was their relentless linebacking corps. They knew they had to maintain that elite production at all costs, rather than bring their below-average units up to snuff.

In 2007, the Steelers went from 8-8 to 10-6; in 2008, Woodley became a starter and Timmons a heavy rotational player—and the Steelers went 12-4 and won the Super Bowl.

The lesson is not to draft linebackers in the first and second round, but to know what you want to do well and make sure you keep the talent at the critical positions for your system.