The Detroit Lions have interviewed Canadian-raised Thomas Dimitroff for the team’s general manager position.
The Lions fired former GM Bob Quinn coming off a 41-25 American Thanksgiving Day loss to the Houston Texans. Detroit was 4-7 at the time and had lost consecutive games for the third time in 2020.
Dimitroff doesn’t want to be out of work for long. He was let go by the Atlanta Falcons following an 0-5 start to this season after spending 13 years as GM. The University of Guelph graduate compiled a 113-93 win-loss record along with a 4-6 post-season record, including the famous loss to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI.
His drafts landed a number of cornerstone players such as quarterback Matt Ryan, receiver Julio Jones, offensive lineman Jake Matthews, defensive lineman Grady Jarrett, linebacker Deion Jones and others who helped Atlanta become one of the winningest teams in the NFL over the last ten seasons. Since 2008, the Falcons rank eighth in the NFL and fourth in the NFC in wins under Dimitroff.
He won two Super Bowls while serving as a national scout and director of college scouting for the New England Patriots from 2002 to 2007 when the franchise won the Vince Lombardi Trophy back-to-back in 2004 and 2005.
His pro football personnel career started in Saskatchewan with the Roughriders where he was the Canadian scouting coordinator from 1990 to 1991. From there, Dimitroff jumped to the World League of American Football in 1992 and received his first NFL job with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1993.
The 54-year-old Dimitroff was named NFL executive of the year in 2008 and 2010.
