Bill Belichick ranks second among NFL GMs in these categories, per survey

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Bill Belichick has won six Super Bowl championships in nine tries as the New England Patriots' head coach and de facto general manager. That's a pretty decent résumé.

But if you ask NFL agents, there are two current front-office leaders who have Belichick beat.

The Athletic's Ben Standig surveyed 30 certified NFL agents on a variety of topics and compiled their list of votes to determine a "winner" for each category.

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Among those topics were two questions -- "Among general managers or front-office leaders, who is the smartest?" and "Who is the best talent evaluator?" -- that Patriots fans may expect Belichick to receive the most votes for.

But guess where Belichick ranked in both categories? Second.

Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman received five votes for "smartest GM" to Belichick's four, with NFL agents pointing to Roseman's ability to handle all aspects of the job -- including dealing with the media.

"Howie Roseman is a guy who I think is very good with the media from what I can tell," one agent said. "I know that he knows the money game very well. And I’ve known him for 15-18 years and he’s worked incredibly hard to learn football and how to evaluate to the point now where he’s really good."

Roseman's Eagles defeated Belichick's Patriots in Super Bowl LII, and it appears he's scored another victory over the Hoodie here -- although another agent insisted Belichick is "Light Years ahead of everybody."

Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard, meanwhile, topped Belichick in the "best talent evaluator" category.

"He’s the best by far," one agent said of Ballard. "He’s the easiest to deal with and I think he’s great at talent evaluation as well."

Belichick's history of finding success with players other teams overlooked (cough, Tom Brady, cough) presents a strong counter-argument. But the longtime Patriots coach did lead his contemporaries in one category: According to agents, Belichick is the GM they trust the least.

"You can fill in the dots," one agent said.

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