Repeat after me "I do not know as much about personnel as Tom Dimitroff does"

[gazoo]

It's appearing to be evident that the fans need to get real and understand Dimitroff knows more about drafting players than they do. We would not haved picked the "weak armed Ryan" or "paid too much for Baker", Lofton, "we don;t need another WR Douglass", Beirman, or any of the rest had the fans had their way.

Dimitroff knows what the heck he is doing, and contrary to fans proclamations and ProFootballTalk.com , Rich McKay CLEARLY is not telling him what to do. I recall some insisting to me if McKay was involved in hiring TD, TD would be his puppet.....hogwash, TD is his own man, it is abundantly clear things have changed BIGTIME.

Sit back and enjoy, this administration is starting to remind me of some other very good ones I've seen over the last few decades.

[TeamPlayer1]

Excellent point, zoo!

Dimitroff is so far above the posters on this message board in player evaluation, it's not even close!

And zoo, I absolutely think Dimitroff will add a fine player or two after the final cuts!

GO FALCONS!!!

[Jedi-Falcon]

It's appearing to be evident that the fans need to get real and understand Dimitroff knows more about drafting players than they do. We would not haved Ryan or Baker, Lofton or any of the rest had the fans had their way.

Dimitroff knows what the heck he is doing, and contracry to fans proclamations and ProFootballTalk.com , Rich McKay CLEARLY is not telling him what to do.

Sit back and enjoy, this administration is starting to remind me of some other very good ones I've seen over the last few decades.

Absolutely. Tom Dimitroff & Co. pulled off the steal of this past draft with his selections. I could not be happier right now. When was the last time you saw a "rebuilding team" play this good. We got some really great blue-collar, hard-working players that want to PLAY FOOTBALL instead of WHINE AND CRY all the time.

But the greatest move TD made was hiring MIke Smith - aka - a "nobody" coaching selection when it happened. Mike Smith, to me, is the epitome of a Head-Coach. And the staff he selected - Mike Mularkey, Brian Van Gorder - is proving every game to be one of the best staffs in the NFL.

If we don't make the Playoffs this season, we definitely will be there in 2009. Let the rest of the League laugh at us now. In a year or two we will be having the last laugh.

[jjooee]

good post, McKay got Anderson in the 1st round, Dimitroff got Bierman in the 5th round.

Ryan, Baker, Lofton, Jackson, DeCoud, Bierman, are all excellent picks.

Thomas too, but I have a bad feeling they're gonna go with Snelling.

[Falcons Ace]

NO WAY! An NFL GM who have trained under Scott Pioli and has over 15 years of scouting experience knows more about NFL personnel than messageboard GMs like Vick75 does?

Crazy talk, it's insane to think anything like this!

[Guest Gritz]

"A man's got to know his limitations."- Clint Eastwood as Harry Callahan

[jjooee]

McKay did get Boley in the 5th round to be fair.

I really am excited what Dimitroff could do after 2 drafts.

If he can do in next years draft for the D line what he did this year

for the secondary, we'll be set.

[Scott24Falcons]

While I agree that Thomas Dimitroff looks like the right man for the job, let's not make Rich McKay out to be an absolutely terrible GM. Sure, he has had some misses, but let's not forget that he netted us Jerious Norwood, Michael Boley, Roddy White, Matt Schaub (who we turned into Justin Blalock and Curtis Lofton), and several other key players still on our roster.

[Mr. Offseason]

he does for now, hopefully i can catch up. :P

but in all seriousness, you are right. he is very smart, he knows what hes doing and i trust him. i trusted him when we moved up for sam baker, i even swallowed my pride, accepted the ryan pick, and watched film and came to love the guy. i loved the lofton pick, loved the douglas pick and loved the jackson pick (not wild about decoud, the jury is still out on him a little more than the rest of the guys imo). i had no idea about many of our late round picks, but kroy beer-man looks to be a huge steal and looks like a guy that could contribute in passing situations immediately.

im very excited about this draft class and i absolutely cant wait until next years draft. good job TD!

[Shiney_McShine]

I have a better hair cut.

[jjooee]

I have a feeling they may draft some LB's next year high....I think this might be Brookings last year.

I'd like them to go DT, DE high - DE passrusher.

[BBurgFalconFan]

i heart TD

[Commish]

Good post. I remember all the many complaints, and callings for TD's head that we had here on Draft Day

[jjooee]

Good post. I remember all the many complaints, and callings for TD's head that we had here on Draft Day

I will glady eat crow.

I wanted Ryan but I'm a "defense wins championships" kind of guy and wanted some D linemen and was kinda

upset on draft day, but it's turning out nicely.

[wordtobigbird]

lol nice one gazoo. i like.

[phattywankenobi]

Smith said they actually had 5 of the rookies starting last night. Before this year it seemed amazing to actually have more than one rookie who would start. I am excited about the future of this team even if it may take it's lumps in the rebuilding process.

[rhourk]

It's appearing to be evident that the fans need to get real and understand Dimitroff knows more about drafting players than they do. We would not haved Ryan or Baker, Lofton or any of the rest had the fans had their way.

Dimitroff knows what the heck he is doing, and contracry to fans proclamations and ProFootballTalk.com , Rich McKay CLEARLY is not telling him what to do.

Sit back and enjoy, this administration is starting to remind me of some other very good ones I've seen over the last few decades.

I wasn't as vocal as some others and at least gave the benefit of the doubt, but I sure was leaning in a different direction with my mock drafts. Well Mr. Dimitroff has made a believer out of me.

[sporkdevil]

I like Dimitroff, and I'm warming up to his draft. However, I still think one of my earlier drunken ramblings still ring true, and Dimitroff picked mainly guys useful for the Patriots. Mainly, he spent years evaluating guys to play for NE, specifically, it would make sense why we grabbed so 2 LB's in the first 5 rounds to replenish an aging NE LB corps, 2 CB's to replace Gay and Samuels, a WR to replace Westbrook, DeCoud for Rodney Harrison, and a change of pace RB. And it would also make sense that we ignored spots like defensive and offensive line, like the last grab up for Baker and Biermann in the 5th (but both look like solid players).

Either way, this does look like a good draft, and I am confident he will impress much more next year. It looks like all of the players are serious players. I am still pretty convinced he just didn't want to lose out on these players he had evaluated for 3-4 years, whether we really needed them or not (LB spot looks great, but seriously, did we need 2? And with Taylor at MLB, did we need to drop a 2nd rounder on it?). Looks good, but I feel like next year we will grab some defensive tackles (FINALLY).

[LADBABY]

It will take some time to see how some of my wild ideas might have

panned out. Right now TD is way ahead of anything I had schemed

up. I guess what I like the best is the impact that the players they

picked can already be seen on the field... starting. They broke it down

right. Guys wanting d. tackles when we only had re-treads at qb

are starting to get it by now.

[West Sider]

good post, McKay got Anderson in the 1st round, Dimitroff got Bierman in the 5th round.

Ryan, Baker, Lofton, Jackson, DeCoud, Bierman, are all excellent picks.

Thomas too, but I have a bad feeling they're gonna go with Snelling.

Don't forget Douglas!

Still have not seen enough of DeCoud, good bad or otherwise.

[sporkdevil]

Don't forget Douglas!

Still have not seen enough of DeCoud, good bad or otherwise.

I'm not ready to say McKay was a total failure. 1st round is awful, but later rounds seem much better. Laurent Robinson in the 3rd I think, that was a great pickup.

And yeah, FA sucked, minus Big Jimmy Abraham.

[The Vent King]

It's appearing to be evident that the fans need to get real and understand Dimitroff knows more about drafting players than they do. We would not haved Ryan or Baker, Lofton or any of the rest had the fans had their way.

Dimitroff knows what the heck he is doing, and contracry to fans proclamations and ProFootballTalk.com , Rich McKay CLEARLY is not telling him what to do.

Sit back and enjoy, this administration is starting to remind me of some other very good ones I've seen over the last few decades.

I agree, from what I've seen so far it appears the creation of a REAL NFL franchise may be in the making here finally in Atlanta. I too believe the new GM and coaching staff are heading in the right direction, but at the same time though you will have naysayers because of the state of this franchise since its inception. I really can't blame some of them for all the dung and unfortunate luck they/we've had to stand witness to over the years. From the thing with the Dallas Cowgirls back in the early 80's to the "run and cr*p" shoot and Jerry Glanville, to letting Deion get away to Jamal Anderson blowing his knees out with no one touching him AFTER holding out, the Eugene "Sex Machine" Robinson/Superbowl thing and the Vick saga- this franchise has endured alot and the fan-base has suffered. It's disillusioned and it will take time for them to believe anything good or real is going down with this team. Now some people unfortunately just love spewing hate/drama and get a kick out of being Negative Nancys just out to get people riled up and no matter what happens unless this team is 30+ points up in the Superbowl with three seconds left are just not going to get with the program. Threads like this though help those of us that CAN see the good things happening here to keep the faith though that there are indeed others like us so keep 'em coming zoo...

[defensedefensedefense]

TD is a better talent evaluator than all of us... Well we might as well get rid of the Draft & Free Agency forum then, forgive any of us that want to throw a few things around or maybe debate a draft/FA selection.

Do you have to make every thread come off as an 'eat crow' thread gazoo?? Its tiresome...

TD is looking like a **** good GM, and i absolutely love the Mike Smith hire...

[Che]

While I agree that Thomas Dimitroff looks like the right man for the job, let's not make Rich McKay out to be an absolutely terrible GM. Sure, he has had some misses, but let's not forget that he netted us Jerious Norwood, Michael Boley, Roddy White, Matt Schaub (who we turned into Justin Blalock and Curtis Lofton), and several other key players still on our roster.

Great point. The draft is very difficult. GMs and their staff spend countless hours on their evaluations and the decisions that they make are vital to the success of a team. Mckay has had hits and misses and I know many feel that he fell off after his main talent evaluator went to the Seahawks. I am glad we have Dimitroff and yes gazoo he is shuting up these armchair GMs.

[Falcons Ace]

TD is a better talent evaluator than all of us... Well we might as well get rid of the Draft & Free Agency forum then, forgive any of us that want to throw a few things around or maybe debate a draft/FA selection.

Do you have to make every thread come off as an 'eat crow' thread gazoo?? Its tiresome...

TD is looking like a **** good GM, and i absolutely love the Mike Smith hire...

Those forums are for fun and discussing who you think, but there are some that come off saying TD is wrong for his draft picks and were MAD when he didn't select THEIR player.