There may still be a big ticket name coming in the Atlanta Falcons coaching sweepstakes, but the hunt for a general manager has ended quietly. Tom Dimitroff isn't a famous and debonair GM candidate, bragging about his ability to draft a team of cybernetic super-linemen.
He's just a damn good choice.
I've long been an advocate of the draft. If the Falcons are going to rebuild this team from the ground up and stock the roster with talent, it will have to start and end with those seven rounds. A quick look at the Patriot drafts since he joined the team in 2002 reveals a treasure trove of picks. In the early rounds, you have names like Ben Watson, Vince Wilfork, and Richard Seymour. In the later rounds, you feast upon such luminaries as Asante Samuel, Nick Kaczur and and Stephen Gostkowski.
Yeah, everything the Pats do is somewhat overrated. Still, there's not too many who would deny the general excellence of the Patriot drafts. They've built a dynasty from the ground up by selecting players who fill roles capably and provide key depth. Because they're not concerned with hitting a home run with every pick, Dimitroff and his staff have been able to build a team which functions like one in every sense of the word. If the Falcons had the kind of deep depth chart and hard-nosed starters the Pats have, things would be a lot more tolerable. I do still hate the Patriots, though.
And yeah, if Dimitroff hires a crappy coach those fuzzy words go right out the window. They'll need an effective leader to push any kind of a system through, something that's certainly been lacking under Mora/Petrino. With one very solid hire, however, Blank is making some strides in the right direction.
Thoughts?