Thomas Dimitroff knows his job is on the line

Thomas Dimitroff and Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn spoke with the media Thursday afternoon and Dimitroff knows that his staff has to perform in 2016.

There was a great deal of speculation surrounding the Atlanta Falcons front office after the 2015 NFL regular season came to a close. Atlanta had missed the NFC Playoffs for the third straight season and had not posted a winning record since 2012’s NFC Championship Game run.

Owner Arthur Blank focused on “maintaining the continuity” with general manager Thomas Dimitroff and head coach Dan Quinn for at least one more season. The pair seemed to have a strong working relationship in 2015, Quinn’s first as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. However, Blank assured that changes were going to occur in the front office leading up to the 2016 NFL season.

Blank fired director of player personnel Lionel Vital and hired two former NFL general managers in Phil Emery (Chicago Bears) and Ruston Webster (Tennessee Titans) to completely overhaul the Falcons’ scouting department. Emery and Webster join a third former general manager in former Kansas City Chiefs general manager and current assistant general manager of the Atlanta Falcons Scott Pioli.

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While one could argue that the Blank has put a ton of cooks in Thomas Dimitroff’s kitchen, entering his ninth season as general manager, Dimitroff knows that he has to perform in 2016, as he job with the Atlanta Falcons is heavily on the line.

At Thursday’s press conference with head coach Dan Quinn leading up to the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama Saturday, Dimitroff said about his job security with the Atlanta Falcons, “Again, I’ve said this to you for years now, I believe every year is [make or break]. That’s what I believe. I believe this year, just like last year, is about the success of this organization. That’s my responsibility. There’s no doubt in my mind that I look at it every year as I need to produce in order to keep my job. That’s just the way it is.”

For a seasoned NFL general manager, that’s the type of response one would expect to receive front a front office guy entering his ninth year on the job. Blank has had Thomas Dimitroff as his general manager since 2008 when Dimitroff initially partnered with ex-Atlanta Falcons head coach and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Mike Smith.

Since the Atlanta Falcons only have five draft picks in the 2016 NFL Draft, as they lost their fifth round pick to the Noisegate scandal and traded away their sixth round pick to the Tennessee Titans in the Andy Levitre trade this past preseason, Dimitroff and his staff of Emery, Pioli, and Webster cannot afford to miss on any of the Falcons’ five draft picks in this spring’s draft.

To possibly take the pressure off those five selections, they may opt to trade back in some rounds to acquire more picks to maybe have a complete seven picks in the 2016 NFL Draft. Moving back is uncharacteristic of Thomas Dimitroff who has twice moved up in the first round to get a future Pro Bowl (Julio Jones in 2011 and Desmond Trufant in 2013).

However, Dimitroff’s inability to hit on players in the second to fourth round during his tenure in Atlanta have robbed the team of depth and the necessary glue guys to play at a championship level. He does well in the first round and with signing undrafted players, but mid-round picks and free agency whiffs have had Dimitroff on or near the hot seat the last three seasons.

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How last year’s draft picks progress, as well as how Atlanta navigates both the 2016 NFL Draft and the free agency period will have a lot to do with if Thomas Dimitroff gets a 10th season as the Atlanta Falcons general manager in 2017. The Falcons’ 2016 is brutal when compared to 2015’s, so anything less than 8-8 will feel like a failure for the best team in the NFC in 2015 to not make the NFL Playoffs.

Here’s to success in the free agency period and the ensuing 2016 NFL Draft for our Atlanta Falcons. Rise Up!

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