Falcons Restructure Front Office

Update:

According to Field Yates, Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff will still have  final say on the team’s roster and personnel decisions.

• This structure is designed to resemble the Ravens’ front office.

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The Atlanta Falcons announced Wednesday that they have restructured their front office.

Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff will now handle the team’s salary cap with Scott Pioli being in charge of personnel and draft.

The new structure has Pioli reporting to Dimitroff, and Dimitroff and whoever Atlanta hires as their next head coach reporting directly to owner Arthur Blank.

Falcons Director of Player Personnel Lionel Vital will take on additional scouting responsibilities.

Dimitroff and whoever Atlanta hires as their next head coach will report directly to owner Arthur Blank.

Here’s a statement from Blank regarding the moves:

“After reviewing all of our options – internally and externally – I have no reservations that this is the best approach to setting up our player personnel groups for future success,” said Blank. “It maximizes the talents of Scott, allows for more time and focus on all areas of our football operations groups managed by Thomas, and is in line with other player personnel groups in the league.
 
“While this decision was not tied to the head coach search currently underway, we also believe that independent thinking and collaboration will contribute to taking us to the next level in our league. Therefore, our new head coach and Thomas will report separately to me.”

Usually having control over personnel is considered a demotion, but Dimitroff was responsible for bringing Pioli in after he was fired by the Chiefs a few years ago, and the two of them go back several years, so could very well be a way for them to optimize their front office structure.

It’s worth wondering if this will have an impact on their head-coaching search that is still ongoing.

Reports from earlier in the day mentioned that they could have a list of finalists put together in the coming days.

We’ll have more regarding the Falcons and their head-coaching vacancy posted here as the news is available.