On January 13, 2008, was officially the day the Atlanta Falcons turned their misfortunes around. No, that wasn’t the day they drafted Rookie of the Year Matt Ryan (that was April 26, 2008) or the date they signed free agent Michael Turner (March 2).

January 13, 2008 was the day the Falcons hired former Patriots’ director of college scouting Thomas Dimitroff to be their next general manager. Without Dimitroff, there might not have been a Matt Ryan, Michael Turner or Mike Smith, who recently won the NFL’s AP Coach of the Year Award.

On Wednesday, Dimitroff was named Sporting News magazine’s NFL Executive of the Year – and for good reason. Not only was he responsible for hiring Smith, signing Turner and drafting Ryan, but he was also behind trading overrated cornerback DeAngelo Hall to Oakland, releasing aging veterans Alge Crumpler, Rod Coleman and Warrick Dunn, as well as selecting Sam Baker, Curtis Lofton, Chevis Jackson, Harry Douglas and Kroy Biermann in last year’s draft, all of whom were major contributors as rookies in 2008.

The Cleveland Browns were given permission by the Atlanta Falcons to interview president (and former GM) Rich McKay for their current general manager position.

McKay was stripped of his general manager duties after last season. He stayed on with the Falcons to help in several capacities.

McKay has stepped into the background this season as Thomas Dimitroff took over the football operations. He’s been instrumental in helping Dimitroff with the salary cap, contract negotiations, the Falcons’ pursuit of new stadium options and several other business operations.

The Falcons went to the NFC Championship game in McKay’s first year, but things went sour with his hirings of Jim Mora and Bobby Petrino, poor free agent signings, like Ed Hartwell, and failed high draft picks in DeAngelo Hall and Jimmy Williams.

To McKay’s credit, he did select guard Justin Blalock, wide receivers Roddy White and Michael Jenkins and make the trade for defensive end John Abraham.

McKay’s tenure with the Falcons has endured the federal dogfighting investigation that landed quarterback Michael Vick in prison.

The article fails to mention that McKay also drafted current starters Michael Boley, Jonathan Babineaux, and Chris Houston, as well as playmaker Jerious Norwood, who shares carries with Michael Turner. None of those picks were first round picks, either, which is a testament to his ability to draft in the middle rounds.

Of his bad decisions, the hiring of Bobby Petrino was just as much owner Arthur Blank’s fault as it was McKay’s because Blank had to have a big name for his coach. And when the Falcons signed Ed Hartwell, he hadn’t missed a game in his entire career and then blew both knees out in his first two years in Atlanta. Is that on McKay?

Signing Vick to a huge contract extension turned out to be a disaster, but nobody knew he was fighting dogs in his spare time. Jimmy Williams was a total bust, while Hall was overrated and cocky, but he did make a Pro Bowl and never finished with less than four interceptions after his rookie year.

McKay would be a great fit in Cleveland because he’s won before and would give the Browns much-needed direction. He built the Buccaneers 2002 Super Bowl team and got the Falcons to the NFC Championship Game in 2004. He wouldn’t be a better choice than the Patriots’ Scott Pioli, but the Browns could do a lot worse than a guy who turned around once morbid franchises in Tampa and Atlanta.

Not every move a general manager makes is going to be a home run. But McKay has had more hits than misses in his career and even though he lost his GM role with the Falcons last year, it spoke volumes to his credibility that Atlanta wanted to keep him as president. It should also be noted that McKay’s name once came up to replace Paul Tagliabue as NFL commissioner.