For more than a decade, Todd McClure paved the way for running backs and protected quarterbacks in Atlanta, with fellow franchise icons like Warrick Dunn, Michael Turner, Michael Vick, and Matt Ryan benefiting from his skill. Now, McClure will once again try to give Falcons players what they need to thrive, but in an entirely different role.
McClure is one of several hires announced by the Falcons on Monday, joining Atlanta’s front office as the new coordinator of player development and a senior personnel
assistant. The Ring of Honor inductee, who previously held the team’s record for consecutive starts, is one of the best centers in history alongside legends like Jeff Van Note and Alex Mack and has remained an outspoken champion for and fan of the Falcons into his retirement. A seventh round pick in 1999, McClure overcame a major injury that wiped out his rookie season and became a key cog on some terrific offensive lines all the way until his retirement in 2013.
Like Matt Ryan, McClure is not coming into this role with a wealth of experience, but he is joining up with extensive football experience, the full trust of the franchise, and likely a glowing endorsement from Ryan. McClure has been around the Falcons for a long time now and was credited as a leader and player instrumental to Ryan’s growth during his playing career. Per the team, “McClure will support the club’s player development program by coordinating cross-functional initiatives and assisting football leadership with player-focused and strategic projects.” We’ll see what that actually translates to in practice—it’s likely a role McClure will learn as he goes, much like Ryan is learning his president of football role—but at a minimum it is very fun to have Mud Duck back in the building.
No one should be surprised if former Falcons from the most successful era in franchise history continue to join up in some capacity, as the team is trying hard to bring back both the memory of better days and actual better days. The rationale is that players who made the team thrive can do the same thing in different roles, and while we don’t yet know how that’s going to work out, it does feel a bit more promising than the past eight years of mediocre football and oft-combative stances with their own fanbase that the Falcons are trying to put behind them. McClure brings the right kind of enthusiasm and a wealth of playing experience to this, after all.
The team also announced several other new hires without the same level of name recognition.
- National scout Justin Hickman played in both the CFL and NFL before moving into scouting, and spent the past few years working for the Patriots as an area scout. This is a promotion for him and was originally reported back in April, but the team is now making it official. During his tenure in New England, the team added players from the Midwest region Hickman worked in like Ohio State’s TreyVeon Henderson, Eastern Michigan’s Sidy Sow, and former Falcon Sam Roberts.
- BLESTO scout Daniel Clements is making the leap from college, where he spent the past few seasons with Texas and Texas A&M as in personnel roles. In those roles, he had significant evaluation experience for high school and college prospects, and will join the Falcons and the BLESTO scouting cooperative hoping to turn that experience into gold for Atlanta.
- Area scout Keith Earle is an Ian Cunningham hire through-and-through. He’s worked with Cunningham both as an area scout with the Bears and as a player personnel intern with the Eagles, overlapping with the Falcons’ general manager, and is clearly someone Cunningham has a lot of trust in.
- Area scout Kevin Melore is getting a promotion after spending 2025 as a scouting assistant for Atlanta. Prior to that, he worked in scouting with Texas (the college, not the state).
- Scouting assistant Max Blank steps into Melore’s old role, or at least one with an identical title, and as you would guess is Arthur Blank’s son. He’s had two scouting internships with the Falcons, one with the Rams, and worked in a “rotational analyst” role the team describes as “focused on player engagement, growth audiences and player personnel.” Blank will continue climbing the scouting ladder with a team he’s extremely familiar with.
- Finally, assistant director of scouting and conditioning Frank Wintrich has a pretty rich background in his role. Wintrich has been the director of health and fitness at the National Defense University, a human performance manager at the Department of Justice, and prior to those roles piled up nearly two decades in strength and conditioning and football performance roles across college football.
Give the new hires a warm welcome, if you would.
