The Atlanta Falcons today announced that they have promoted Lionel Vital to Director of Player Personnel.
"We are pleased to announce that we have promoted Lionel Vital to our director of player personnel," general manager Thomas Dimitroff said. "Lionel has assisted in constructing our roster over the last five seasons and has been instrumental in our draft process and free agent acquisitions. He has over 20 years of scouting experience and has had the opportunity to work under team builders like Ozzie Newsome and Bill Belichick during his career. Lionel is a vital member of our scouting team and we are happy that he will continue to be a member of our organization."
Vital is a 23-year veteran in scouting and player personnel. In 2012, he served as the Falcons Associate Director of Player Personnel after spending the previous four seasons as the club's Assistant Director of Player Personnel. Vital will continue to work closely with Dimitroff on most college scouting matters as he is an integral part of the personnel decision making team. His responsibilities include evaluating the top 150 college players in a national scouting capacity and grading the top unrestricted NFL free agents at all positions while also working on comparatives, and special projects with Dimitroff.
Vital began his scouting career in 1990 as the Director of Player Personnel for the Montreal Machine in the World League of American Football. In 1991, he was hired by the Cleveland Browns and spent the next five seasons as a Talent Scout. He followed the Browns to Baltimore and served as a College Scout during the Ravens inaugural season in 1996. He then served as a Talent Scout for the New York Jets from 1997-99 before joining the New England Patriots as a National College Scout in 2000. From 2001-2004, Vital served as the Patriots Assistant Director of College Scouting. During this time he worked closely with Dimitroff and Vice President of Player Personnel Scott Pioli.
From 2005-07, Vital returned to Ravens where worked under general manager Ozzie Newsome and covered schools across the country as a National Scout while being responsible for reporting on defensive linemen. During his time in Baltimore, he was honored with the inaugural Fritz Pollard Alliance Scouting Award, which is given to the top African American scout each in the AFC and NFC.
