Getting Rid Of Td

[Drunken Minotaur Zebra]

So a lot of people on here think TD is an awful GM when it comes to picking outside of the first round, or when it comes to the trenches (and a lot of people would be right about that).

They also think he's an egotistical numbskull who thinks he has a god given talent to find "gems" that somehow every other team missed on (which in reality are just project players that are almost always picked 2-3 rounds ahead of their draft projection). They would also be right about that.

But the one thing I will give TD, is he knows money. He knows how to structure contracts and ensure we are never gasping for cap space (like the Stains perpetually are, and its coming back to bite them).

With the new state of our team, I HIGHLY doubt TD has any decision in the draft. I think in order of importance it is Quinn > Pioli > Raheem Morris tbh. I think he is a glorified accountant who was thankfully taken out of the decision making in the draft, and this past draft being a decent one for once in forever seems to back that up.

If he is fired we could definitely lose out on his magic with money, but would we gain anything scouting-wise? I find it hard to believe out of Quinn/Morris/Pioli (if he stays after TD is gone), that a new GM would have any valuable input at all in terms of scouting.

So is it worth ending up in cap **** like some teams, and handing out absurd contracts (look at what Chip Kelly gave Byron Maxwell... lol), for the "possibility" of a GM being slightly better at scouting?

[SyCo]

I'm going to go ahead and disagree, and I'm not even that big of a hater.

its hard to judge his skills with numbers because he rarely needs to resign his draft picks.

there's that Sam baker contract.

[k-train]

I'm not a TD hater by any means but I do think he has his fair share of issues.

As for his work w/ contracts... Aren't we losing $10m this offseason in dead money from the deals he gave Baker & Asamoah? Sure, we aren't in awful shape, but that extra 10 million would come in pretty handy when trying to lure a top FA center, safety, lb, or wr to come here.

[TheUsualStuff]

It's not hard to work well under the cap when your draft picks are cut and out of the league before their rookie contracts expire, and your FA's are all

castoffs.

[andrews31cain21]

I'm not a Dimitroff hater or anything, but i keep seing post about TD being good with money and doing good contracts, but if memory serves me correctly, and i could be wrong, but i could have sworn that when TD was hired it was said that McKay was still going to be doing contracts and i dont remember seing anything any different in the last 8 years

[GetUSom3]

Not a Hater, but would rather see his talent based solely on a Bicycle and Breakfast shop in Aspen.

Let's find another GM to spot those Sam Bakers in the talent pool.

[WOR]

It's not hard to work well under the cap when your draft picks are cut and out of the league before their rookie contracts expire, and your FA's are all

castoffs.

You know that's completely backwards right? Lol

[WOR]

The fact we have to cut rookies is a terrible thing for our cap. Young players are the cheapest way to fill holes...

We have to sign vets to fill holes and they cost twice as much.

[sassy_bird]

As long as Thomas Dimitroff is our GM we are going nowhere.

[g-dawg]

So a lot of people on here think TD is an awful GM when it comes to picking outside of the first round, or when it comes to the trenches (and a lot of people would be right about that).

They also think he's an egotistical numbskull who thinks he has a god given talent to find "gems" that somehow every other team missed on (which in reality are just project players that are almost always picked 2-3 rounds ahead of their draft projection). They would also be right about that.

But the one thing I will give TD, is he knows money. He knows how to structure contracts and ensure we are never gasping for cap space (like the Stains perpetually are, and its coming back to bite them).

With the new state of our team, I HIGHLY doubt TD has any decision in the draft. I think in order of importance it is Quinn > Pioli > Raheem Morris tbh. I think he is a glorified accountant who was thankfully taken out of the decision making in the draft, and this past draft being a decent one for once in forever seems to back that up.

If he is fired we could definitely lose out on his magic with money, but would we gain anything scouting-wise? I find it hard to believe out of Quinn/Morris/Pioli (if he stays after TD is gone), that a new GM would have any valuable input at all in terms of scouting.

So is it worth ending up in cap **** like some teams, and handing out absurd contracts (look at what Chip Kelly gave Byron Maxwell... lol), for the "possibility" of a GM being slightly better at scouting?

The whole - "Dimitroff is a cap wizard" thing - is just wrong:

1) Falcons don't have a lot of talent, so it is much easier not to screw up the cap. Sure, it can be done but much more difficult. In 8 years, there has only been 3 significant re-signings - Matt, Julio and Sam Baker.

2) Dimitroff is not even the one who "works" the cap - it is a guy named Nick Polk. He has been with the Falcons for 7 yrs and his title is "Director of Football Operations".

http://www.atlantafalcons.com/team/staff/Nick-Polk/7e187398-8b98-494b-a498-13c4ed40f6a1

here is article by former ESPN beatwriter - Pat Yasinskas from 2013.

Falcons promote Nick Polk

Pat YasinskasESPN Staff Writer

February 28, 2013

The Atlanta Falcons have had to steadily reshuffle their front office over the past two years as Les Snead and Dave Caldwell moved onto jobs elsewhere as general managers.

The shuffling continued Thursday with another promotion from inside. Nick Polk was named director of football operations after spending the past five years as the team’s director of football administration.

Polk might not be a name known to the average fan, but he’s been an important part of the front office and his role just got bigger. Polk has worked closely with general manager Thomas Dimitroff on contract proposals, negotiations and management with the salary cap.

“Nick does a very good job of managing our salary cap,” Dimitroff said. “His communication regarding our cap situation has paid dividends over the last five years and we are fortunate to have him as a member of our organization.”

Polk’s also got big-picture experience. He basically ran a whole league at one point. Polk worked as the senior director of football operations for NFL Europe for three years. He also has some history as a coach in the college ranks.

This was a logical move for the Falcons because Polk has paid his dues and been a key part of the front office. But this promotion also puts him one step closer to ending up as a general manager somewhere else in the future.

[Flying Falcon]

Uh Oh!!!

[Sting129]

I'm going to go ahead and disagree, and I'm not even that big of a hater.

its hard to judge his skills with numbers because he rarely needs to resign his draft picks.

there's that Sam baker contract.

that would be funny if it weren't so sad.

[Gold4425]

I think he will and maybe should be back. BUT . . . I just wish he would acknowledge he has to change some of his ways. How many years have we needed OL's or got MR killed? And TD would march no-name after no name in here who we would have to google just to find out who that person was. We do need to put more talent in the drafting and scouting department and TD needs to let them have a voice. Every year when it has gone wrong TD never makes substantial moves before trading deadline that can help this team, it is always sit still or get a guy off the practice squad. This can work but it has to be more then B S rhetoric.

[THEHEADCOACH]

It's not hard to work well under the cap when your draft picks are cut and out of the league before their rookie contracts expire, and your FA's are all

castoffs.

+1

[HASHBROWN3]

He has absolutely been a fking ace GM with regard to the financial side and proving over and over again he's one of the better talents in that regard.

His struggles are exactly what you have said. He abandons conventional wisdom and makes crazy wtf picks too often. Now Grimes and a few others have shown he can pull it off. But when it comes to linemen, he has a horrible record of getting cute.

Whomever he is getting his linemen information from (scout of otherwise) must be fired and replaced. I think it's the trench warfare personnel he needs help with from both Quinn & Pioli...

But I don't necessarily agree that he is an arrogant guy. I don't get that impression of him. He's pretty grounded and willing to listen to others.

[FentayeJones]

The whole TD is a cap wizard thing is overblown IMO. When you only have two first round picks on second contacts its not that hard - not to mention we have a third first round pick eating up 6m in dead money. I could argue that TDs cap wizardry is a direct result of draft picks not working out. (Weatherspoon, Peters, Jerry, Konz, Holmes etc). Those are high draft picks should be the team conerstones right now and on their second contracts. Also, the Tyson Jackson and Paul Soliai contracts are terrible - over 55 million dollars tied up in two players that only play the run.

If you are looking for cap wizards look at the Seahawks, Vikings, Panthers, Packers, Bengals, Cardinals and Broncos. Those are all teams with a shitload more talent than the Falcons and more cap space next season.

Edited January 6, 2016 by FentayeJones

[Drunken Minotaur Zebra]

The whole - "Dimitroff is a cap wizard" thing - is just wrong:

1) Falcons don't have a lot of talent, so it is much easier not to screw up the cap. Sure, it can be done but much more difficult. In 8 years, there has only been 3 significant re-signings - Matt, Julio and Sam Baker.

2) Dimitroff is not even the one who "works" the cap - it is a guy named Nick Polk. He has been with the Falcons for 7 yrs and his title is "Director of Football Operations".

http://www.atlantafalcons.com/team/staff/Nick-Polk/7e187398-8b98-494b-a498-13c4ed40f6a1

here is article by former ESPN beatwriter - Pat Yasinskas from 2013.

Falcons promote Nick Polk

Pat YasinskasESPN Staff Writer

February 28, 2013

The Atlanta Falcons have had to steadily reshuffle their front office over the past two years as Les Snead and Dave Caldwell moved onto jobs elsewhere as general managers.

The shuffling continued Thursday with another promotion from inside. Nick Polk was named director of football operations after spending the past five years as the team’s director of football administration.

Polk might not be a name known to the average fan, but he’s been an important part of the front office and his role just got bigger. Polk has worked closely with general manager Thomas Dimitroff on contract proposals, negotiations and management with the salary cap.

“Nick does a very good job of managing our salary cap,” Dimitroff said. “His communication regarding our cap situation has paid dividends over the last five years and we are fortunate to have him as a member of our organization.”

Polk’s also got big-picture experience. He basically ran a whole league at one point. Polk worked as the senior director of football operations for NFL Europe for three years. He also has some history as a coach in the college ranks.

This was a logical move for the Falcons because Polk has paid his dues and been a key part of the front office. But this promotion also puts him one step closer to ending up as a general manager somewhere else in the future.

So if TD doesn't manage our cap space and contracts... then WTF does he do???

[g-dawg]

So if TD doesn't manage our cap space and contracts... then WTF does he do???

good question - LOL.

He is still involved on the personnel side - more of the day-to-day has been delegated to Scott Pioli but TD still makes the final call and I believe TD interacts w/ Dan Quinn as almost a "go-between" or an intermediary.

Dimitroff's job title and salary is not really commensurate with his duties right now. Dimitroff is more than likely a GM in "name only" right now. Dimitroff fans will likely say "then what are you complaining about G-Dawg?" - but Dimitroff still is responsible for Pioli and the scouting staff and making the final calls on draft picks - although it could be guessed that Quinn is making more of those calls right now - hard to say for sure. Quinn has the call on the "final 53" but nowhere in his job authority does it say he has last call on players selected in draft/free agency - however, he has much more power than Smitty ever conceived of having.

[g-dawg]

He has absolutely been a fking ace GM with regard to the financial side and proving over and over again he's one of the better talents in that regard.

His struggles are exactly what you have said. He abandons conventional wisdom and makes crazy wtf picks too often. Now Grimes and a few others have shown he can pull it off. But when it comes to linemen, he has a horrible record of getting cute.

Whomever he is getting his linemen information from (scout of otherwise) must be fired and replaced. I think it's the trench warfare personnel he needs help with from both Quinn & Pioli...

But I don't necessarily agree that he is an arrogant guy. I don't get that impression of him. He's pretty grounded and willing to listen to others.

1) Hash, did you read my post on Nick Polk?

2) Dimitroff had nothing to do with Brent Grimes getting to the Falcons - he came to ATL in 2006, TD in 2008.

[g-dawg]

So if TD doesn't manage our cap space and contracts... then WTF does he do???

also, TD does not even get credit for bringing Nick Polk to Falcons - Polk has been w/ Falcons for 12 years so he pre-dates Dimitroff's tenure.

[1989Fan]

TD still has final say on bringing in the talent I believe. Quinn has final say one who makes the final 53 on cut downs.

That said, it sounds like they work well together, and are on the same page. Knowing there isn't a power struggle between GM and coach is a reason I am leaning towards letting TD work with Quinn for one more season.

[FalconFanSince1969]

Gdawg pointing out all these different people do all these different things but still refuses to believe it's a collaboration rofl.

[Musikron]

I don't care one iota about the Falsons finicaial house. I would gladly be in cap **** and contine to suffer in the future like we ALWAYS HAVE regardless of cap space, if it would net us a Lombardi.

[kiwifalcon]

I'm not a TD hater by any means but I do think he has his fair share of issues.

As for his work w/ contracts... Aren't we losing $10m this offseason in dead money from the deals he gave Baker & Asamoah? Sure, we aren't in awful shape, but that extra 10 million would come in pretty handy when trying to lure a top FA center, safety, lb, or wr to come here.

Mike Vick did the same to the Falcons when he went to jail but know one mentioned that when TD & the FO was trying to re-build the team convienently he got a pass.

[sdogg]

So if TD doesn't manage our cap space and contracts... then WTF does he do???

I'm still trying figure that out.