Dan Quinn and Thomas Dimitroff, Co-Team Builders

Part of what Dan Quinn was looking for in a head coaching role was a solid partnership with the GM to facilitate effective team building through the draft and free agency. He has found that in Thomas Dimitroff. Quinn and Dimitroff's chemistry and rapport were evident in yesterday's pre-draft press conference, in both the content of their comments and the ease with which they spoke about their collaboration.

This is good news for a team that has a lot of needs that must be addressed in this draft. If Dimitroff and Quinn are on the same page in terms of needs and the type of players who will best fit in Atlanta's new offensive and defensive schemes, it should increase the chances of success on draft day.

Both Quinn and Dimitroff mentioned their productive partnership in their opening statements yesterday. "I just want to say that Dan and I have been working very hard the last three months together, along with our respective staffs," Dimitroff said, "...and we've been traveling all over the country looking at players, we've been in offices looking at unbelievable amounts of data together and talking about scheme together, so it's been a great learning experience to grow together in this whole process."

Quinn emphasized that the partnership with Dimitroff has lived up to the expectations and hopes he had for that professional relationship coming into his first head coaching role, and he is characteristically fired up for the draft. "When I first got here, I wanted to make sure I could connect with the guy putting the whole thing together," Quinn said. "So Thomas and I have a good partnership going into it. It's been everything I hoped it would be. So we're fired up to get going here."

Quinn understands that it's on him to communicate to Dimitroff which players will fit well in the Falcons' schemes and how they will be featured should Atlanta acquire them. ""We've had a lot of discussion about that and just the way that Thomas and I want to do it, so not really regarding where we've done it before, but how we want to do it now together," Quinn said. "And it goes through this process, my sole job is to try and help Thomas understand how we would feature some of the guys as we play, and so that part, you always have discussion."

And Dimitroff seems to appreciate the clarity Quinn and his staff have in terms of the types of players they believe will be good fits. "Dan and his staff are acutely aware of the type of scheme they want and the type of players they want within that scheme," Dimitroff said, "and I think as - again, from a personnel standpoint, that is vital to put together the right team and bring in the right players that will have a chance to make this football team." Dimitroff even went so far as to label himself and Quinn "co-team builders."

These open lines of communication and the mutual respect that is evident between Dimitroff and Quinn should be conducive to acquiring players who are good fits, both in the locker room and on the field.

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