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Former Titans general manager Ruston Webster joins crowded Falcons front office

He and former Bears GM Phil Emery will be national scouts for the team.

By Dave Choate Updated
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Maybe this will be the final big addition to the Falcons' front office, which as Scott Carasik noted is now home to six current or former general managers.

UPDATE: Both will be national scouts for the organization.

Webster was the general manager of the Tennessee Titans from 2012 until the end of the 2015 season, when his contract expired, and he presided over the construction of a relentlessly mediocre roster over that time. He did nail a handful of picks and free agent additions, has 25 years of personnel experience, and he has a history with the Seahawks and Buccaneers that suggests he has an eye for talent, but like Phil Emery his recent resume isn't all that inspiring. For more on Emery, check on our other story.

The Falcons' endgame here is obvious: They're trying to assemble an all-world front office, with tons of management and scouting experience that will help them make smarter decisions when it comes to acquiring personnel after years of mediocre free agent classes and mixed draft results. On paper, that's a sound way to go about things, and hiring former GMs for scouting positions instead of some anonymous, up-and-coming scout is not necessarily the worst way to go.

The problem is that there are just so many bigwigs, we're not 100% sure who will be wielding the most clout in the room, and very few of these guys have ever been truly stellar personnel men. Like the Raheem Morris move, it's a unique direction for this team, and one that inspires more apprehension than optimism. I hope, as always, that I'm being overly dour and this front office Voltron will hit home runs during this offseason. The team desperately needs a few.

If the team moves on from the likes of Thomas Dimitroff and Scott Pioli heading into 2017, someone like Webster would be a logical candidate to step up into the job. Whether that's a good thing or not depends on your comfort level with Webster's past moves, and what he's able to help this Falcons team do in 2016.

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