Happy Trails, Dave Caldwell

When it was confirmed that the Jaguars hired away Director of Player Personnel Dave Caldwell earlier today, I was a bit crestfallen.

The Falcons have done a wonderful job of assembling a smart, talented front office, one capable of evaluating college players and professionals quite well. There have been busts and failures along the way--hi, Ray Edwards!--but the talent level of the team they've assembled speaks for itself. Caldwell has been a major part of that.

Unfortunately, talented organizations tend to have their brightest minds and best players stolen away from them over time, and Caldwell is following Snead out the door. It's a blessing to have so many intelligent evaluators of talent in one place, but it's a curse because they tend to take other jobs. Caldwell should do a fine job in Jacksonville.

Someday, the league may talk about the Falcons' front office tree in the same way they once talked about the Patriots. Good luck, Dave Caldwell.