Weekly Falcons’ Experts Roundtable
By Ben Sullivan
Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
What Grade Would You Give Thomas Dimitroff As The GM At This Point?
Jake Bennett: At this point in Dimitroff’s Falcon career, he without a doubt deserves an “A.” Before the Matt Ryan era, the Falcons had never enjoyed back-to-back winning seasons. Under Thomas Dimitorff, we have experienced 5 from 2008-2013. The only smudges on his résumé are 1.) Drafting Peria Jerry, 2.) signing Ray Edwards, and 3.) giving Sam Baker a long-term contract. Other than those bad moves, Dimitroff has consistently been a top NFL GM, and will continue to be one for a very long time.
Ben Grazebrook: Thomas Dimitroff’s tenure with the Falcons has been filled with extreme ups and downs. Dimitroff has drafted some of the organizations best-ever players while also overseeing the most successful period in Falcons history. Dimitroff has also made some mistakes, while hitting on a number of high profile draft picks he has also missed on a number; Peria Jerry, Chris Owens, Peter Konz are just some of the names that come to mind. Dimitroff has also struggled evaluating the Falcons own talent pool and this has led to problems with depth throughout much of his tenure. The evaluating mistakes were more apparent than ever last year when Dimitroff felt the Falcons offensive and defensive lines were substantial enough heading into the season. Overall a mixed bag for Dimitroff but he has installed an ethos and a mentality into the Falcons organization that has made the Falcons one of the franchise models in the NFL and for this Dimitroff should be applauded.
Overall Grade: B
Robert Stephens: I would give him a solid B+. He’s done a great job controlling the salary cap, making sure Atlanta never ends up in a situation where they are over the cap and need to make serious cuts. He is great talking high profile talents on dropping a few million off of their price tag to compete for a Super Bowl and has a lot of success in the draft. He also has a few busts to his name (like Peria Jerry or Ray Edwards) and has an unfavorable tendency to overpay for a single good year like with Sam Baker.
Ben Sullivan: I would agree with everyone that he is somewhere in the B+/A- range, which I think is saying a lot. NFL GMs make so many decisions that it is always easy to find some bad ones if you want to. The success the Falcons have had during his tenure speaks for itself. He needs to a do a better job with his cap management, but I think that comes with time. He’s one of the best GMs in the league, and he’s only getting better.