Despite being well into the offseason, the job never ends for Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff. With the draft less than a week away, Dimitroff and his staff have worked tirelessly over the last month to scout and evaluate players that the Falcons could take with their second round pick. Dimitroff held his pre-draft press conference on Thursday and he has a good idea what direction they will take when they are one the clock.
“We always feel that we can continue to upgrade our depth charts and we’ll always be very mindful of that,” Dimitroff said. “With that said, there are probably three or four that we are really honing in on. I won’t get into the specifics at this point, obviously, from a standpoint of what we are going to be focused on at 55.”
One of the positions Dimitroff could be focused on is the offensive line. In fact, In Mel Kiper latest mock draft, he has the Falcons taking Kelechi Osemele, an offensive lineman from Iowa State.
“Offensive lines, as a group, historically you are going to have years that are up and honestly you can have years that are down and challenging,” Dimitroff added. “Obviously, the fact that we weren’t able to put the ball in the inches at times, that is important to us. We need to make sure that we fire off of the ball.”
Dimitroff also added if the opportunity was there, the Falcons would trade up to get a certain player they have targeted since the beginning of the offseason.
“There is no question about it,” Dimitroff said. “We have dialed in on certain players at a number of positions that we would consider moving up, if in fact it presented itself.”
But the draft wasn’t the only topic of discussion for the former Sporting News Executive of the Year. One of the hot topics for the Falcons this offseason was them being asked by HBO to be on the miniseries “Hard Knocks”. The series follows one NFL team through its training camp and it also provides in-depth look at the team’s preparation for the upcoming season. The series started in 2001 with the Baltimore Ravens and other teams like the Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets have been featured. The show did not air last season because the uncertainty of the 2012 year with the labor agreement.
Dimitroff they not say if the Falcons have accepted the offer because they are still mulling it over. But based on the success the Falcons have had the last four seasons, Dimitroff understands why HBO would offer them the opportunity to be on national television.
“I am proud of the organization,” Dimitroff said. “I am proud of where we are. I feel that we are the type of organization that would be considered in not only this situation, but other situations from a national perspective.”
Another topic that was discussed was how people outside the organization feel that the Falcons have not been very active in the offseason when it comes to signing players in free agency.
“I totally understand the thought process and the banter and the discussion,” Dimitroff said. My feeling is that we have been active. As I mentioned earlier, we have had 15 moves. We talked about keeping our core together. It’s very important to us. This isn’t just about making splash moves on certain players.”
After the draft, the Falcons will hold a mini-camp for all the rookies from May 11-13. The Falcons will then start Organized Team Activities on May 29 and that will conclude on June 15. From June 19-21, veteran mini-camp will take place and training camp is set to start in late July.
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