Get to know the whole class of newcomers to the Falcons’ staff:
Blank will hold the title of scouting assistant with the Falcons. He has previously participated in three scouting internships — two with the Falcons and one with the Los Angeles Rams — so Blank has a strong background he can rely on in this role. Most recently, however, Blank completed a nearly two-year stint as a rotational analyst for the NFL’s league offices. In that program, Blank participated in rotations focused on player engagement, growth audiences and player personnel.
Clements joins as the team’s BLESTO scout. Clements comes from the college ranks, having been a personnel assistant for Texas since fall 2025. Before that, he was the assistant director of player personnel at Texas A&M with a specialization as the program’s NFL liaison and walk-on coordinator.
The Falcons have also added Earle to the staff. He joins up after four seasons with the Chicago Bears, two of those seasons, he was the Midland area scout. Earle has a history with Cunningham, as the two worked together with the Bears but also previously in Philadelphia, too. Earle was a player personnel intern for the Eagles in 2021 when Cunningham was Philadelphia’s director of player personnel.
Hickman is a former player turned scout. A former All-American defensive lineman out of UCLA, Hickman played in both the NFL (then-Washington Redskins and Indianapolis Colts) and CFL (Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Toronto Argonauts) before retiring in 2016. In the last decade, he entered into the scouting world, working first with the Argonauts in 2017 before moving to the XFL as an analyst and scouting manager for the Tampa Bay Vipers. He has spent the last four years with the New England Patriots as an area scout, a position he first moved to in 2021.
Melore earns a promotion to area scout after joining the Falcons in July of 2025 as a scouting assistant. Before coming to Atlanta, Melore was a senior personnel assistant and player personnel assistant with the University of Texas football program during the 2024 season. In the two roles, he assisted the quarterbacks, cornerbacks and safeties coaches with scouting and recruiting. He also acted as a liaison for NFL scouts and coaches during pre-draft interviews and visits.
Wintrich joins a well-established performance staff in Atlanta as assistant director of strength and conditioning after spending the last year working as the director of health and fitness at National Defense University. Before holding this title, Wintrich spent more than three years as the human performance program manager for the United States Department of Justice. While his recent posts have been outside of football, Wintrich has vast experience around the gridiron. He was a two-time team captain at Kentucky Wesleyan College and twice named an All-American at linebacker. Wintrich also served as the director of football performance for UCLA (2018-21), the University of Virginia (2016-18), BYU (2015-16) and the University of North Texas (2010-2015). Before holding that title, he was the associate director of strength and conditioning at the University of South Florida (2008-10). He was the director of strength and conditioning at The Citadel (2006-08) and the assistant strength and conditioning coach at Utah State University (2003-05).