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Lionel Vital will interview for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' general manager position. While previous reports suggested that Kansas City Chiefs director of player personnel Chris Ballard was the leading candidate for the position, Vital is the first candidate to reportedly have an interview. The Bucs need a new general manager to pair with head coach Lovie Smith since they fired Mark Dominik and Greg Schiano at the end of the past season.
Lionel Vital has been the Atlanta Falcons' director of player personnel for one year and has spent the past 23 years with various franchises in various front office role. He came up within the Scott Pioli/Bill Belichick/Ozzie Newsome front office tree, first being hired by Belichick when he was with the Browns in 1991. He's also spent time in the New England Patriots', New York Jets' and Baltimore Ravens' front offices, and was the Falcons' assistant director of player personnel since 2008.
Besides Vital and Ballard, other people to have been mentioned in connection to the Buccaneers' general manager job include Rich McKay, Jerry Angelo, Tim Ruskell and Morocco Brown.
