Newly hired general manager David Caldwell has already hit the ground running in Gainesville as early signing day approaches on Wednesday, and head coach Jon Sumrall has made player retention a priority.
Caldwell most recently served as a personnel executive for the Philadelphia Eagles from 2021-25, helping build two Super Bowl winning rosters during that span. Caldwell worked under Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, who is widely considered the best GM in the NFL.
“It was a tough decision,” Caldwell said on coming to Florida. “I was so fortunate to be with the Philadelphia Eagles. They have a first-class owner, probably the best owner in the NFL. You know, like I said, best GM in sports. So it was a difficult decision. But when I got to meet Coach Sumrall and I was telling somebody, I said, ‘I left my job in Philadelphia because I believed so much in Coach Sumrall. ‘ And when I met him and I met the vision Scott has for this role and where college is going, it was a difficult decision, but I was excited for the opportunity.”
Although the general manager position is still relatively new to college football and its duties continue to take shape, the rise of NIL and the transfer portal has made it increasingly important for programs to delegate many of the added responsibilities required to operate effectively.
“I believe it’s really a support system, and it’s there to serve the coaches and the players and make sure that they have all the tools necessary to have success,” Caldwell said on the college GM role. “And anything we could do to help coach Sumrall and his staff, whether it’s procuring players and getting players to come in through recruitment, through the portal, making sure our players are signed, taking care of our players’ contracts, all the things where he can focus on the team and help us be the best team that we can be.”
Before his time in Philadelphia, Caldwell served as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ general manager from 2013-20. His tenure ultimately ended in a firing after the Jaguars went just 37–86 (.301) under his leadership.
After a short stint as an NFL Draft consultant with the Baltimore Ravens, Caldwell accepted an offer to join the Eagles’ front office. For the Buffalo, New York native, working alongside one of the best in the business was an easy choice. Caldwell was focused on learning from his mistakes in Jacksonville.
“Howie, in my opinion, is the best general manager, not only in football, but in all sports. So I’m like, what better way to go back and learn and redo everything that I did wrong, maybe in Jacksonville and learn from my mistakes?” Caldwell said. “Howie’s been a great mentor over the last five years. Learning how they do things in Philadelphia and their process there has been eye-opening. Howie, I tell him and anybody that’d listen, I wish I had those five years before I had my eight years in Jacksonville.”
Five years under Roseman have helped shape Caldwell for his new opportunity in Gainesville.
“Howie has a unique ability to process a lot of information. He’s got a great process in place. Obviously he’s a great leader. So I think all three of those things between leadership processes and decision making, I’ve learned a lot through him and hopefully we can take that and bring it here. The five years I’ve had there, I’ve learned so, even though I was 47 years old, going to be 52, I still learn,” Caldwell said.
“We’re always evolving. If you have that growth mindset to take maybe some of your failures that you may have had in life, go back to work, figure out what you did wrong, what you did right, learn from that so you can implement that in your next phase.”
Caldwell spent much of his time in Philadelphia scouting college players, including attending Florida’s games against Miami and Georgia this year. He believes the recent familiarity with college athletes will benefit him at UF when the transfer portal rolls around.
“I have a really good knowledge of current college players,” Caldwell said. “You know, in the NFL, everyone thinks you just evaluate draft classes, but we evaluate it, you know, from sophomores on. As soon as they’re draft eligible. So anybody that may come out in a portal, I think I’ve had experience and good knowledge of a lot of those players. So I think there will be a benefit to that.”
Outside of scouting and recruiting, Caldwell will also be responsible for managing what is essentially Florida’s salary cap. Determining a player’s value relative to the program’s available resources has become a critical part of the modern game.
“You get a certain allotment of rev share that you have to stay under based off your budget,” Caldwell said. “Then you have your additional funds, and your NIL and your third party deals. So I think that all kind of comes together and we’re trying to figure out what is our actual pool, all-inclusive for all that money for our players.”
Caldwell has already held zoom meetings with current Gator commits and begun the process of player retention.