The Falcons say they are using the Ravens as the model for their "restructured" front office but whatever it is that Arthur Blank just announced doesn't look like what the Ravens do.
In Baltimore, general manager Ozzie Newsome is clearly the boss of football operations with coach John Harbaugh working under him. In Atlanta, Blank seems to want to be the quasi-head of the Falcons’ football operations with the yet-to-be-hired head coach reporting to him and not general manager Thomas Dimitroff.
All you have to do is look at the Ray Rice scandal to see how Newsome runs the show for the Ravens. ESPN's Outside the Lines report on the Rice controversy last year included this snippet:
[A]fter Ravens offensive lineman Jah Reid was arrested March 8 in Key West, Florida, and charged with two counts of battery for his role in a bar fight, Harbaugh, according to several sources, again went to Newsome and advocated that the three Ravens players arrested in the offseason -- Rice, Reid and wide receiver Deonte Thompson -- be released. Newsome, according to what Rice was told, bristled at the recommendation, saying he was the decision-maker in the matter, not Harbaugh, and he believed in second chances.
So in Baltimore you have Harbaugh going to Newsome on major football personnel matters, and Newsome making the decisions (in this case one Harbaugh didn't like). In Atlanta, you will have the new coach bypassing Dimitroff and going straight to Blank for these kinds of issues and Blank making the call. Normally this would be seen as a breach of trust, the coach going over the GM’s head, but Blank has codified this weird coach/GM relationship into the formal structure of his front office.
I don't see how it can work. As far as I can tell, no other NFL team is organized in this way. That’s no surprise because, after all, how many companies have a middle manager reporting to the owner? At least that’s how it appears the Falcons’ front office will work going forward, though good luck making sense of it.
Dimitroff is still the general manager but is losing some (all?) of his scouting and draft responsibilities while somehow still maintaining final say over the draft and personnel. The Falcons say assistant GM Scott Pioli will “take on pro and college scouting and NFL draft responsibilities” and report to Dimitroff and the yet-to-be-named coach will report to Blank. Blank already meets with his head coach the day after every game, a practice that goes back to Dan Reeves, but I don't see how this new formal structure won't put a strain on the GM/coach collaboration that is vital to team success.
The only thing for certain about the new-look Falcons is that their fans will know where to direct their ire if the team remains in its tailspin. During the good times it was easy for them to see Blank as the passionate owner who hired good people and let them win football games. Now that Blank is taking more of a hands-on role in his strangely-structured front office, his high-profile trips down to the Falcons' sideline during games could take on a different context for his customers.
