When the Falcons promoted longtime scout and executive Tokunbo Abanikanda to director of scouting, it left a vacancy in the front office for the director of college scouting role. We just had to wait to see whether the Falcons filled that position with an internal promotion or an external hire, and now we have our answer.
The team announced Wednesday that they’re hiring Shawn Heinlen, a former Cleveland Browns Southwest area scout from 2022 to 2025, as their new director of college scouting. Heinlen, who
spent 16 years with the Bills in scouting and five years with the Eagles as a Southwest scout, has ties to both Ian Cunningham from his time in Philadelphia and Kevin Stefanski from his stint in Cleveland. It’s safe to say he was highly regarded by both, given that he’s getting a pretty significant promotion to come to Atlanta.
I don’t know exactly how NFL teams divvy up their regions or what falls under Southwest for each team, but it’s fair to say Texas to the California border likely qualifies for most teams. While Heinlen was with the Eagles, they drafted several players Heinlen likely would have been responsible for scouting, ranging from useful players like tackle Matt Pryor and defensive back Zech McPherson to less sterling choices like wide receiver Jaelen Reagor and linebacker Davion Taylor. While with the Browns, quarterback Shedeur Sanders and defensive linemen Siaki Ika and Perrion Winfrey would have fallen under his purview.
There’s nothing overly inspiring there, but that does not include undrafted free agents and does not fully account for Heinlen’s acumen; there’s nothing saying that he didn’t recommend quality selections that were ultimately not made, especially in a chaotic front office like Cleveland’s.
In Atlanta, Heinlein will be tasked with ensuring the Falcons nail their evaluations and come away with quality draft classes and UDFA hauls going forward as they seek to improve the talent level on the roster and enhance their somewhat shaky depth. Cunningham has gone on record saying he loves having as many picks as possible, so Heinlein and the team’s scouts will hopefully be able to offer up more compelling options to take swings on. The fact that he knows both Cunningham and Stefanski and they both clearly trust him—you don’t make the jump from area scout to college scouting director otherwise—should help him ensure he’s bringing in players the front office is comfortable with and the coaching staff will value. The Falcons, it goes without saying, need to do a better job of that, both to build on the momentum of last year’s strong class and to correct the whiffs of prior years under Terry Fontenot’s front office.
Welcome Heinlein to Atlanta, and we’ll see how he fares in his new role.
