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After two straight draft classes that look to be very strong ones, it appeared that Thomas Dimitroff’s previous hot seat had cooled considerably. That seat cooled even more today, as it looks like Dimitroff is now getting a three year extension with the Falcons.
Falcons have given general manager Thomas Dimitroff a three-year extension.
— Jeff Schultz (@JeffSchultzAJC) November 7, 2016
This is a little surprising, given the mid-season nature of it, but Blank has shown that he is not one to fire executives. If anything, Arthur Blank tends to re-position guys rather than let them go (see: Rich McKay). That has already happened in a sense with Dimitroff, as his long-time friend Scott Pioli was given more responsibility over the draft.
Even still, the Falcons have nailed it with recent first round picks (Trufant, Matthews, Beasley, Neal) and have found some great value in mid-rounds too (Freeman, Jarrett). Free agent signings are always hit and miss, but getting Alex Mack this year was a huge move and the signing of Shelby has looked solid. Additionally, grabbing Taylor Gabriel on waivers has looked like one of the bigger steals of the off-season.
There’s little doubt that Dan Quinn’s vision for the team is driving much of this, but it still requires someone to help execute on that. To his credit, Dimitroff has shown he and Dan work well together and the vision is coming into fruition this year.
What are your thoughts on the Dimitroff extension?