Dawn Aponte - the NFL's first female general manager?

Palm Beach Post

Could Dawn Aponte be the NFL's first female general manager?

In a league dominated by men, Dawn Aponte, the Miami Dolphins' current V.P. of football administration, could be the first woman to call the shots for an NFL team.

In today's NFL, only a handful of women hold high-level positions among the league's 32 teams. Aponte, who was most recently promoted from director of college scouting to V.P. of football administration, has apparently played a large role for the Dolphins in recent months.

Free agent stars like wide receiver Mike Wallace and linebacker Dannell Ellerbe, both of whom were successfully signed by the Dolphins, negotiated with not only Dolphins General Manager Jeff Ireland, but also Aponte.

Aponte has reportedly played the "bad cop" to Ireland's "good cop" in contract negotiations, proving that Aponte is no stranger to player/agent deals that can sometimes get, well, a little feisty.

In her new position, which she was promoted to in August 2012, one of Aponte's responsibilities will be managing the Dolphins' future cap space - a vital piece to running any NFL team. With the Dolphins massive, roughly $37 million assault on free agency this year, the new contracts will be a task to manage in future years - a task that will likely fall on the shoulders of Aponte, if she's around.

Aponte could be in Miami come 2014, but with new general manager positions opening up every year, it's very possible that Aponte could be on the short list of an NFL team looking for the next management star.

As for my take on Aponte, it's quite simple: forget about her gender.


Man or woman, running an NFL team is about experience, superb talent evaluation and a steel spine. The tough decisions have to be made and a general manager must know when to say no.

According to a source with knowledge of the management situation in Miami, Aponte is already showing that she can stick to her guns, even if means going against her boss.

“Dawn will say ‘no’ when Jeff won’t,” a league source with knowledge of the team’s front office told Volin.  “She doesn’t really have extemporaneous conversations.  And she’s very ‘by the book’ with whatever stance the team has.  But she’s done a fantastic job with making sure they’re one of the cap-healthiest teams in the NFL.”

Linebacker Dannell Ellerbe is one of the free agents Aponte
helped bring to Miami.

Furthermore, Aponte may have all of the negotiating and number-crunching skills in the world, and she may be "smart as hell" as Dolphins Owner Steve Ross calls her, but can she find a fourth-round sleeper in the draft? Talent evaluation will be the ultimate decider over pretty much anything she has been involved with in her career. Who has she helped discover? Can she dissect film? What is her football philosophy?

These are important questions that NFL teams will want to have answered and none of them will have anything to do with her gender.

Sure, there are some quirky, stone age owners out there who won't want a woman running their precious franchise, but all it takes is one owner who is unafraid to put gender to the side and say, "This is about business. I want to win."

The late Al Davis was unafraid of doing this and a few years ago, he made history when he hired Amy Trask to be the chief executive officer of his team, the Oakland Raiders.

Al Davis may be gone, but if Aponte is truly talented enough to have total control of a franchise worth millions, if not billions, she'll get her shot and I hope she kicks some serious you-know-what.