Longtime Atlanta Falcons director of player personnel Les Snead will leave to take over the St. Louis Rams front office, according to St. Louis, Atlanta and national outlets. Snead has been with Atlanta for 13 years, taking over his current post three years ago. He's advanced from working as a scout to a position just under general manager Thomas Dimitroff, functioning as the director of all scouting, in addition to other roles.
Rams enteringcontract talks w/atlantas les snead to make him teams new gm.
— Jim Thomas (@jthom1) February 11, 2012
Rams blog Turf Show Times sees some fortunate timing on Snead's part:
Snead's getting out of Atlanta just as the team faces some serious roster decision and cap questions. The Falcons traded away the keys to the castle in last year's draft, moving up to the sixth spot to get Julio Jones. It was supposed to be the move that put them back in contention for the NFC Championship, but they never played up to that level this season.
The Rams picked up two Falcons free agents last year: running back Jerious Norwood and guard Harvey Dahl. The latter was greatly missed in 2011. This has little to do with anything. Thanks for listening.
An offseason that's seen quite a bit of change in the coaching staff now demands a significant replacement in the front office as well.
For more on the parties involved, visit Rams blog Turf Show Times and Falcons blog The Falcoholic.