DIMITROFF: A LOT OF THOUGHT WENT INTO FRIDAY’S MOVES
Published March 1, 2013 at 12:57 PM
The Falcons started the weekend by announcing some tough decisions, that the team would be parting ways with veterans Michael Turner, John Abraham and Dunta Robinson.
Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff joined the media on the phone Friday afternoon to discuss the moves, which he called difficult decisions yet thoughtful ones.
“I want to begin by saying, obviously, these are never easy decisions to make and a lot of thought goes into these types of decisions,” Dimitroff said. “These three men have meant a great deal to the success of this organization over the last few years, since we’ve been here in 2008. I want to personally thank John, Dunta and Michael for all their contributions.”
The moves didn’t come without a plan behind it, and Dimitroff was understandably tight-lipped about the details of it Friday afternoon.
Dimitroff said there are a number of positions he and his staff want to hone in on, either through free agency or the draft, but said there are still a lot of moving parts. He said, however, that this move doesn’t take much of Tony Gonzalez’s looming decision on retirement into consideration. Instead, Dimitroff said it was a business decision that will allow the team to take a clear look at the direction of the organization with the focus being on retaining what the team already has.
“Given these three moves, again, our focus has always been that we hone in on our players that are currently on our team and our attempt to try to re-sign our football players,” Dimitroff said. “That’s going to be our focus first and foremost.”
Abe