Thomas Dimitroff failed, again, letting Bruce Irvin walk

Thomas Dimitroff failed miserably by not making an offer to Bruce Irvin and allowing him to join the Carolina Panthers without a fight.

Thomas Dimitroff did not even attempt to make an offer to Bruce Irvin before he signed with division rival Carolina on Tuesday; this is unacceptable. Terms for the deal had not been disclosed at time this was published, but what we do know is that the Falcons did not at least make him an offer.

By making an offer to Irvin, you allow Ihim to decide whether he wants to give his true hometown a hometown discount and stay here to help bring a Lombardi Trophy to the city that raised him. Other than Grady Jarrett, Bruce Irvin should have been a top priority.

A person can fail in life one of two ways:

1. Not trying
2. Giving their best effort and it not being good enough

We can all agree that sometimes in life, we just are not good enough and that is okay. We all have our limitations in life and failing because of them is something that everyone experiences. However, not trying or not taking a risk is inexcusable to me. The greatest products, inventions and the rich all got their start by making an attempt and taking a chance.

To allow Bruce Irvin to walk without a fight says Dimitroff may not be as committed to this franchise as he should have been. The Falcons, led by Dimitroff, should have renegotiated Vic Beasley down to a third of the 12.8 million he is guaranteed to make in 2019 and offered Irvin the rest. While this may not have been enough to keep him, at least it would have been an attempt to keep an upper echelon guy at a position of need for the Falcons.

The Falcons now go into the 2019 NFL draft with higher expectations for a rookie that he will be able to pick up the slack vacated by a seven year pro that has won a Super Bowl and played in another. While we can all bicker about who to draft in the first round or who not to take in the first round, what we can all agree on is – the pick will be an unproven commodity with the expectation to help an a contender get back to the Super Bowl.

Allowing Irvin to walk becomes difficult to understand when you take a look at the reigning NFC champions, who for the last three seasons have done whatever it takes to bring in guys that will help them win now. Just yesterday, the Rams added future Hall of Fame LB Clay Matthews to a defense that is already loaded on all three levels.

If the Falcons expect to regain their standing atop the NFC, Dimitroff and Quinn have a lot of work to do and a lot of praying.