FLOWERY BRANCH – In the wake of two former scouts joining former Falcons executive Les Snead, the new GM in St. Louis, the team has revamped its personnel department, with three key members receiving promotions.
Pro scout Ran Carthon and Southeast scout Taylor Morton both left to join the Rams. Carthon will head up the Ram's pro personnel department and Morton is the Rams' new director of college scouting.
"We are very happy for the opportunities that Ran Carthon and Taylor Morton have with the Rams organization," Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff said. "Unfortunately, we are going to lose two good and up-and-coming personnel men in the league."
The team had already announced the promotions of David Caldwell to Snead's old spot of director of player personnel and DeJuan Polk to director of pro scouting.
In the recent round of promotions, Lionel Vital was promoted to associate director of player personnel, and will be the point man on pro players.
Eastern and Western national scouts, Marvin Allen and Mark Olson, remain in place.
On the next level of the team's scouting hierarchy, the Falcons recently hired former Colts general manager Chris Polian and promoted Bob Kronenberg and Anthony Robinson.
Polian will scout in the West and help with special projects.
Kroneberg, an area scout with a specialty in defensive and offensive line players, will move into Carthon's old position as a pro scout. Robinson, who was a scouting assistant, will become the Midwest scout and Steve Sabo while shift from the Midwest to the Southeast.
Also Mike Ross, who was a scouting assistant, will take over the Northeast as an area scout. Robinson Payne, an area scout, is leaving the organization to pursue other career opportunities.
Sabo will be the main Southeast scout with some overlapping help from Robinson since the region is so important to any teams scouting efforts.
Also, Mike Potts, who was a scouting intern, was promoted to scouting assistant.
“We feel like we’ve done a nice job of having people in place to step up and assume the positions that were vacated,” Dimitroff said.
The team was happy that it could basically promote from within and bring in Polian. Dimitroff believes the internal promotions help with morale.
Four rookies signed
The Falcons signed four of their six draft picks, including top pick Peter Konz, who was selected in the second round. Konz signed a four-year deal worth $3.58 million with a $1.05 million signing bonus. Terms of the other deals were not disclosed.
In addition to Konz, the team signed fullback Bradie Ewing (fifth round pick), safety Charles Mitchell (sixth) and defensive tackle Travian Robertson (seventh).
The team is close to signing third-round pick Lamar Holmes and fifth round pick Jonanthan Massaquoi.
Konz, who was projected to be selected in the first round of the draft, was picked by the Falcons with the 55th overall pick, in the second round. Last season, Kansas City signed offensive lineman Rodney Hudson, the 55th pick in 2011, to a four-year contract worth $3.5 million that included a $1 million signing bonus.
White, two others signed
Former Georgia tight end Aron White, wide receiver Kenny Stafford and fullback Lee Meisner were signed to free agent contracts. The three players received tryouts during the rookie minicamp.
White played the last two seasons in the shadow of Orson Charles at Georgia. Stafford is the nephew of NFL great Cris Carter and former NBA player and head coach Butch Carter.
White finished his college career with 34 catches for 512 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Meisner played linebacker at Colorado State-Pueblo, but tried out with the Falcons as a fullback.
The Falcons also released defensive tackle Ray Kibble from Kansas State.
The moves left the Falcons with 88 players under contract. They still must sign Holmes and Massaquoi to reach the 90-player offseason roster limit.
In 2010, two players who received tryouts were signed to the roster in quarterback Eric Ward and cornerback Daylan Walker. Ward was cut a month later, but Walker made it to training camp before being released.
Massaquoi slims down
Defensive end Jonathan Massaquoi, a fifth-round draft pick from Troy, has dropped 16 pounds and hopes to regain his quickness that helped him led the Sun Belt Conference with 13.5 sacks two seasons ago.
He played last year at 275 pounds, but was down to 259 for the rookie minicamp.
"He looks a lot leaner than he did during the season," Falcons coach Mike Smith said. "He has very good speed around the corner."
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