The Falcons have retained GM Thomas Dimitroff and coach Dan Quinn, who both will now report directly to team President & CEO Rich McKay. Falcons Owner Arthur Blank will retain oversight of the football operation, with McKay reporting directly to him on all football matters (Falcons). In Atlanta, Mark Bradley writes this is a "mistake" by Blank. Bradley: "You know it, and surely the high-profile owner knows it." But Blank "loves Dan Quinn, and apparently his affection for Thomas Dimitroff knows no rational bounds." Blank has "allowed himself to be swayed by emotion and, worse still, recency bias" after the Falcons won six of their final eight games (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 12/28). THE ATHLETIC's Jeff Schwartz wrote what Blank did on Friday "effectively was to stall for a year." Blank "denies the fact that he likes Quinn and Dimitroff played a role in all this," but these are "un-Blank-like decisions" (THEATHLETIC.com, 12/27).
LOOKING TO THE OFFSEASON: ESPN.com's Vaughn McClure notes perhaps the biggest obstacle for the Falcons the offseason is that the team is "projected to be over the salary cap going into next season, and that's even before" signing their '20 draft picks. The "lucrative deals to the top players put the Falcons in a financial bind Dimitroff has to navigate, with Quinn's input and McKay's oversight. McKay said, "I am not overly concerned about the salary-cap situation. I've seen the tight cap. It makes you make hard decisions. It makes you be very, very certain in what you do whether it's in free agency or whether it's a re-signing or whether it's a restructuring. But it is all doable. You're living in a world of a $200 million cap" (ESPN.com, 12/27).
