Upon entering the NFL, as an undrafted free agent, he was invited to training camp with the San Diego Chargers (1987) and Detroit Lions (1988), but did not make it as a professional football player.

[8] Wannstedt was fired midway through the 2004 season, which saw the team win just one of their first eight games with a roster missing running back Ricky Williams, who abruptly retired in August.

In that same month, the Dolphins elected to trade Adewale Ogunleye (the 2003 leader in sacks for the AFC) due to him holding out and not accepting the qualifying offer as a restricted free agent; they received Marty Booker and a third-round pick in the 2005 draft.

Feeley (the third-string player on the Philadelphia Eagles) saw them trade a second-round pick for him only to see him start (and lose) two of the first three games of the season on the way to throwing 11 touchdowns against 15 interceptions.

[9][10] Spielman's power over personnel decisions was stripped when Huizenga gave Nick Saban complete control of football operations after hiring him to be the head coach on December 25, 2004.

[15] His most notable draftees include: Adrian Peterson and Sidney Rice in 2007; John Sullivan in 2008; Percy Harvin and Phil Loadholt in 2009; Christian Ponder and Kyle Rudolph in 2011; Matt Kalil, Harrison Smith and Blair Walsh in 2012; Xavier Rhodes, and Cordarrelle Patterson in 2013; and, Teddy Bridgewater and Anthony Barr in 2014; Trae Waynes, Eric Kendricks, Danielle Hunter, and Stefon Diggs in 2015; Dalvin Cook in 2017, Brian O'Neill and Daniel Carlson in 2018; Justin Jefferson in 2020; and Christian Darrisaw in 2021.

Prior to 2012 when he was promoted to general manager, Spielman shared a "triangle of authority" in drafts where he ran the personnel department with final say over the draft while working in tandem with the head coach (Brad Childress until 2010 before he was replaced by Leslie Frazier) for on-field operations while salary cap and contracts were negotiated by football operations vice president Rob Brzezinski that all (as a "Triangle of Authority" in some circles) reported directly to team owner Zygi Wilf.

In the 2012 offseason, before Kyle Rudolph was drafted, Spielman signed Seattle Seahawks tight end John Carlson to a 5-year, $25 million contract.

There were some notable exceptions such as the signing of Pro Bowl nose tackle Linval Joseph, who was a key contributor to the Vikings 2017 playoff run.

In addition, Spielman successfully found key starters in undrafted free agents such as Andrew Sendejo, Adam Thielen and Anthony Harris.

[citation needed] In hopes of finally winning it all, the Vikings signed free agent QB Kirk Cousins to a fully guaranteed 3-year $84 million contract in 2018.

[26] This signing by Spielman caused tension between him and head coach Zimmer, who was reluctant to allocate such a significant portion of the salary cap to a single player.

[30] In January 2024, Spielman worked with the Washington Commanders as an advisor in a search that led to the hiring of general manager Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn.