Atlanta Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff employs his former boss with the New England Patriots in Scott Pioli, who carries the title of assistant general manager, and now Phil Emery, the former general manager of the Chicago Bears, is back with the Falcons.
Emery and former Titans general manager Ruston Webster were named national scouts with a focus on college scouting.
“Phil and Ruston bring over 40 years of combined NFL scouting expertise to our organization and I am pleased to have them join our staff,” Dimitroff said Tuesday in a team release. “They will both be focused predominantly on college scouting, an area both men have excelled in during their careers. I am confident that they will bring an added leadership presence to our scouting department.”
Dimitroff and Pioli have known each other for decades, dating to Bill Belichick’s tenure with the Cleveland Browns, and are close companions. Pioli was general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs and ran the personnel side of the operation with Belichick hovering during the dyanstic decade of the 2000s. He got his start in scouting with Belichick in Cleveland in 1992.
The front-office setup could bring benefits for the Falcons, but owner Arthur Blank insisted and repeated that coach Dan Quinn would have a personnel voice when he took the job last February.
Quinn said he plans to build his roster through the draft. That plan encountered a few detours in recent years.
But since 2013, player personnel progress is more evident, and there are signs the Dimitroff-Pioli reunion is working.
Atlanta traded the farm for Julio Jones in 2011 — the same draft that brought Cam Newton into the NFC South — and parted with a first-round pick in 2012 to get Jones, too. But Pro Bowl running back Devonta Freeman (103rd overall, 2014) cornerback Desmond Trufant (22nd, 2013), defensive linemen Grady Jarrett (137th, 2015) and Ra’Shede Hageman (37th, 2014) and 2014 first-round offensive tackle Jake Matthews and 2015 first-rounder Vic Beasley have potential to be core players for Quinn.
That Emery, who drafted Shea McClellin, Kyle Long and Kyle Fuller with first-round picks in Chicago, and Webster, far from a draft ace in Nashville, are helping lead the college scouting effort won’t change the final authority of Dimitroff.
Belichick made similar moves in New England, working with former Titans GM Floyd Reese when Pioli made land in Kansas City. Reese was senior football advisor above current personnel boss Nick Caserio.
It’s another example of Blank being willing to spend to win.
The Falcons haven’t been to the playoffs since 2012 and are one of the 12 teams without a Super Bowl victory.