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Falcons hire Joel Collier as director of player personnel

Now let us tell you who he is.

By Dave Choate
Handout/Getty Images

The Falcons have hired their new director of player personnel, and perhaps unsurprisingly, it's not going to be a name familiar to most of you.

Here's the relevant "why we hired this guy" quote from Thomas Dimitroff:

“After a thorough and comprehensive search, I am pleased to have Joel Collier join us as our director of pro personnel,” General Manager Thomas Dimitroff said. “He brings an extensive personnel background to our department, and he will provide strong leadership to our pro scouting group.”

As Scott Carasik noted, Collier was the assistant general manager under Scott Pioli from 2009 to 2013. He has not had an NFL job since then, last popping up as a secondary coach at a Kansas City high school in 2013. Collier has actually spent most of his career as a coach, not a scout, with his sole scouting experience coming in 1993 with the Patriots. Otherwise, he's primarily coached secondaries.

I really have nothing to offer you on Collier's acumen as a personnel guy, unfortunately. This hire is happening, I suspect, because Scott Pioli vouched for his ability and Pioli has become a major player in this front office. If you respect Pioli's ability and eye for talent, you'll likely welcome this hire, and if you don't, you'll likely think it's a bizarre one. I lean toward the latter camp, given that he has several seasons of management experience but a pretty small background with actual scouting.

Welcome aboard, Collier. May you be an asset.

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