Its well documented that it was Caldwell who fought for the Falcons to trade up for Julio.

 

Where?

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It was talked about a lot when Caldwell was hired. Some viewed it a positive, others viewed it as a negative. 


 

While the Falcons' director of college scouting, it was said that Caldwell was a driving factor behind the team's decision to trade up for <a class="" href='http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/players/131119/julio-jones'>Julio Jones</a>, and his track record of finding talent speaks for itself.

 

 

http://atlanta.sbnation.com/2013/1/9/385...he-falcons

 

 

https://twitter.com/AdamBCC/status/293097337142788096

 

https://twitter.com/Kevin_Hine/status/28...6584131584

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So i'm not sure if this was posted somewhere, and i was going to start a new topic, but it turns out it fits nicely into this one.

 

http://www.thefalcoholic.com/2013/11/18/...-and-akeem

 

Hopefully this isn't what we have to look forward to, but those draft picks that have been being touted as good draft picks, have seem to come full circle and is now biting the falcons in the [BLEEP], according to this article at least.

 

Hopefully this is just an outlier in the system, but if this trends to continue for the falcons I fear what may happen here in JAX.

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You take the franchise QB over an elite DE every single time. QB is not a position you can put off until next round, or next year. I can't believe people are actually entertaining this thought. If the Jags have the first pick, pre-order your Teddy jerseys. Simple as that.

I Beleive seattle would like to talk to you. and tom brady, and at this rate, nick foles and Glennon, maybe case keenum any of the qb's in oakland. There's talent at every position later on, and it takes coaching to bring it out. Alex smith was a first round basically like gabbert and it took 6 years and the right coach to turn him into a "success"

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In 2007, the Atlanta Falcons had one of the worst records in the NFL. After that season, the Falcons hired a new GM to turn their floundering franchise around. His name was Thomas Dimitroff. He immediately hired Mike Smith as his head coach. One of his other hirings was Dave Caldwell who became his Director of College Scouting. (In 2012 he became Director of Player Personel) In 2008 & 2010, Dimitroff was named Executive of the Year by Sporting News. The Falcons have won more games than any other team in the NFC since 2008. (not counting this year) (also I believe the Jags had the same claim in the AFC after their 1st 4 years in the league) Since his first day on the job, Dimitroff has brought the philosophical approach of building through the draft and supplementing thru free agency. Since 2008, the Falcons rank 2nd in the NFL in draft retention (73.9%). Also, during that time, 39 of the Falcon's 46 selections are active players in the NFL (84.8%). From what I can see, Dave Caldwell must have played an active role in the Falcon's drafting success. As far as management style, I wonder what things he learned from working closely with Dimitroff. In drafting college players, he can sometimes be aggressive. Case in point.....in his first draft(2008) after securing his quarterback (Matt Ryan) with the 3rd overall pick , he moved back into the first round to get LT Sam Baker. In doing so, he gave up his two 2nd round picks and a 4th. Yet again, in the 2011 draft, he moved up from the 27th spot to the 6th spot tq nab Julio Jones. However, it was a very expensive move. In exchange, the Cleveland Browns got the Falcon's 1st, 2nd and 4th round picks......PLUS a 1st and 4th round pick in the following year. I wonder what Caldwell took away from those moves. Will Caldwell be as aggressive as Dimitroff was? Might he surprise everyone and grab Clowney first and then trade back into the 1st round to get the quarterback he covets? I thought Dave's first draft was fairly conservative till he went after Denard in the 5th. That showed a little daring. This makes me think that he could very well take some chances ala Dimitroff. Your thoughts.


Atlanta Overall Standings


2007..........4-12.......Dimitoroff hired

2008.........11-5.........playoffs

2009.........9-7

2010.........13-3........playoffs

2011.........10-6........playoffs

2012.........13-3........playoffs

2013.........2-7

 

Atlanta has been in "future" decline ever since Ron Hill left for the league office in New York. The "almost" depression is sinking in and Smitty will be out sooner than later. 

 

Their sideline looks like a disaster zone.

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First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. - Mahatma Gandhi

 

http://s6.postimg.org/vyr2ycdfz/Teddy_Br...cked_4.gif

Atlanta has been in "future" decline ever since Ron Hill left for the league office in New York. The "almost" depression is sinking in and Smitty will be out sooner than later. 

 

Their sideline looks like a disaster zone.

 

You mean the former Jags scout Ron Hill that was fired by the Falcons almost 10 years ago?

 

You really live in your own reality.

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It was talked about a lot when Caldwell was hired. Some viewed it a positive, others viewed it as a negative. 
 
http://atlanta.sbnation.com/2013/1/9/385...he-falcons
 
 
https://twitter.com/AdamBCC/status/293097337142788096
 
https://twitter.com/Kevin_Hine/status/28...6584131584

All I see are a lot of "sounds like" and "supposedly" and the kind of stuff that passes for journalism these days.

It hasn't turned out poorly for the Falcons, but it was a risk.

Without any real proof re Caldwell I'm not worried about it. Each team's circumstances and needs are different, so I'll withhold judgment about Caldwell until the end of 2015.

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The sun's not yellow, it's chicken.

I sure hope Caldwell learned from Dimtroffs mistakes and avoids them. Dimtroff is pretty much the exact opposite of what we need to do, trading picks for targeted players because you have a desperate need is a recipe for trouble.

 

He 's already followed....He hired a defensive minded head coach, just like with Demitroff/ Mike Smith. 

 

Shows me that Caldwell is likely to try and copy everything Demitroff did pretty much verbatim rather than putting his own stamp on things. 

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He 's already followed....He hired a defensive minded head coach, just like with Demitroff/ Mike Smith. 

 

Shows me that Caldwell is likely to try and copy everything Demitroff did pretty much verbatim rather than putting his own stamp on things. 

oh no, I hope he doesn't draft a franchise caliber QB and we make it to the playoffs in the next 4 out of 5 seasons

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oh no, I hope he doesn't draft a franchise caliber QB and we make it to the playoffs in the next 4 out of 5 seasons

 

I hope he does too....but won't happen if they place themselves out of the top pick by winning some meaningless games down the stretch. 

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I hope he does too....but won't happen if they place themselves out of the top pick by winning some meaningless games down the stretch. 

oh, that's what this thread was about? sorry I should stay on topic

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I sure hope Caldwell learned from Dimtroffs mistakes and avoids them. Dimtroff is pretty much the exact opposite of what we need to do, trading picks for targeted players because you have a desperate need is a recipe for trouble.

 

I disagree and the Falcons with several pieces in place, were set for a run the last two seasons.  He wanted that extra piece to get it over that hump for that time frame instead of waiting for a dynamic player later, etc.  I think if you draft right and have most pieces in place and you need one or two things to make that run, go ahead and spend it and get those guys.  Windows are small in the NFL and it's hard to get enough people in place to make a run.  Once you have the QB, you get him what he needs.

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<a target="_blank" href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v107/chuckd132132/p1_manning_all_200.jpg" target="_blank">VIEW IMAGE</a>

I disagree and the Falcons with several pieces in place, were set for a run the last two seasons.  He wanted that extra piece to get it over that hump for that time frame instead of waiting for a dynamic player later, etc.  I think if you draft right and have most pieces in place and you need one or two things to make that run, go ahead and spend it and get those guys.  Windows are small in the NFL and it's hard to get enough people in place to make a run.  Once you have the QB, you get him what he needs.

 

That's the same philosophy TC used in 1999 and the result sent us into the death spiral that has lasted near a decade. It appears it's also sending the Falcons into a death spiral at this point and time.

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I disagree and the Falcons with several pieces in place, were set for a run the last two seasons.  He wanted that extra piece to get it over that hump for that time frame instead of waiting for a dynamic player later, etc.  I think if you draft right and have most pieces in place and you need one or two things to make that run, go ahead and spend it and get those guys.  Windows are small in the NFL and it's hard to get enough people in place to make a run.  Once you have the QB, you get him what he needs.

Agree. Atlanta came very close to making it to the Super Bowl. They were actually beating the 9ers 17-0 on route to a 28-24 loss in the NFC finals. They were a couple big plays to making the Super Bowl. Although very good, Ryan is not elite. It's how you perform in the most critical or moments that matters most.

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I hope he does too....but won't happen if they place themselves out of the top pick by winning some meaningless games down the stretch. 

 

I mean it's not like they've lost 9 games by double digits or anything.

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I mean it's not like they've lost 9 games by double digits or anything.

 

The first half of the schedule has already been documented as one of the tougher SOS's in the league. 

 

Meanwhile the last 8 games on the Jags schedule are amongst the easiest SOS's in the league. 

 

So, the whole "worst team ever" / double digit losses argument doesn't mean much. Every game they have is winnable from here on out till the season finale. 

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The first half of the schedule has already been documented as one of the tougher SOS's in the league. 

 

Meanwhile the last 8 games on the Jags schedule are amongst the easiest SOS's in the league. 

 

So, the whole "worst team ever" / double digit losses argument doesn't mean much. Every game they have is winnable from here on out till the season finale. 

 

Why don't double digit losses to the Cardinals, Chargers, Rams and Raiders "mean much"?

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All I see are a lot of "sounds like" and "supposedly" and the kind of stuff that passes for journalism these days.


It hasn't turned out poorly for the Falcons, but it was a risk.


Without any real proof re Caldwell I'm not worried about it. Each team's circumstances and needs are different, so I'll withhold judgment about Caldwell until the end of 2015.

 

He spoke very in-depth about the whole process, which is why a lot of people believed he was very much behind it. I even seem to recall Oesh commenting on it, though I can't find that now. I did find the excerpt of Dave talking about the decision making during the Julio trade:

 

"<i><b>Give us a little insight into the Julio Jones trade</b></i>

<p style="font-family:'Mercury SSm A', 'Mercury SSm B', Georgia, serif;color:rgb(41,41,41);font-size:16px;">We had a very good franchise quarterback in Matt Ryan, our young quarterback. We had a good receiver in Roddy White and we were really looking for a compliment to him or someone to come in after Roddy is on the tail end of his career in two to three years and take over that number one role. Where our team was at the time, I think we were number one in draft retention, so we had about 27 of our 30 players we drafted on our roster and we just felt like a lot of those picks we were trading we were going to have to draft them to cut them or cut some players on our roster that we liked. It was just a point where we were at with our team. Also, which we'll do here, we'll start scouting not only this year's draft but future drafts. So we kind of looked at the receiver class and some of the other value positions we'd be drafting in the first round last year, whether it be offensive tackle, defensive end and felt like if we were picking in that 20 to 32 range, that it wasn't that big of a gamble to give up that future one for a dynamic player like Julio."

 

http://www.bigcatcountry.com/2013/3/9/40...transcript

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He spoke very in-depth about the whole process, which is why a lot of people believed he was very much behind it. I even seem to recall Oesh commenting on it, though I can't find that now. I did find the excerpt of Dave talking about the decision making during the Julio trade:

 

"Give us a little insight into the Julio Jones trade

We had a very good franchise quarterback in Matt Ryan, our young quarterback. We had a good receiver in Roddy White and we were really looking for a compliment to him or someone to come in after Roddy is on the tail end of his career in two to three years and take over that number one role. Where our team was at the time, I think we were number one in draft retention, so we had about 27 of our 30 players we drafted on our roster and we just felt like a lot of those picks we were trading we were going to have to draft them to cut them or cut some players on our roster that we liked. It was just a point where we were at with our team. Also, which we'll do here, we'll start scouting not only this year's draft but future drafts. So we kind of looked at the receiver class and some of the other value positions we'd be drafting in the first round last year, whether it be offensive tackle, defensive end and felt like if we were picking in that 20 to 32 range, that it wasn't that big of a gamble to give up that future one for a dynamic player like Julio."

 
<a class="bbc_url" href='http://www.bigcatcountry.com/2013/3/9/4078784/david-caldwell-1010xl-interview-transcript'>http://www.bigcatcountry.com/2013/3/9/4078784/david-caldwell-1010xl-interview-transcript</a>

Cannot fault that strategy under those circumstances. Almost got them a Super Bowl in addition to having the best record in the NFC.

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He 's already followed....He hired a defensive minded head coach, just like with Demitroff/ Mike Smith. 

 

Shows me that Caldwell is likely to try and copy everything Demitroff did pretty much verbatim rather than putting his own stamp on things. 

 

Holy hyperbole, Batman!

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