Grading every Atlanta Falcons OL pick under Thomas Dimitroff

Thomas Dimitroff has been the Atlanta Falcons general manager for 13 seasons now and his draft record for an offensive lineman is as about as bad as a general manager could ever be.

As if Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank needed any more reason to part ways with this long time general manager, looking back on his draft record at one of the most important positional groups on a football field should be the sole reason.

Over the 12 NFL drafts that Thomas Dimitroff has been in charge of, he has drafted a total of 12 offensive linemen and in 2011 and 2018 he didn’t select a single lineman in the draft. For most of the last 20 years, the Falcons have had an offensive line issue and despite the need, Dimitroff has essentially turned his back to the issue.

Another issue that Dimitroff has as the general manager is his inability to actually identify talent on the offensive line. Remember, this is the general manager that drafted guys like Peter Konz and Lamar Holmes in the first 100 picks of a draft.

Dimitroff has a knack for ignoring the strengths of a draft, like taking receivers in drafts full of future All-Pro defensive lineman. He has done the same thing with an offensive lineman. Years he should have drafted lineman, he took defensive and (most years) he took offensive lineman, he should have taken other positions.

His inability to draft is why the Atlanta Falcons are where they are as a franchise. We can blame head coach Dan Quinn or quarterback Matt Ryan all we want, but the issue is bigger than either of them and will continue to be until Arthur Blank brings in a capable general manager.

That said, it is time to rank every offensive lineman that Thomas Dimitroff has ever drafted. We will rank them in normal academic grade rankings – A thorough F starting with F.

This is by far the biggest categorical ranking of all offensive lineman as most of the 12 linemen that Dimitroff has drafted are in this area.