Scott Pioli surprised a lot of people when he announced his decision to resign as Atlanta Falcons assistant general manager on Thursday. Naturally, when something like that occurs, the first assumptions are that Pioli is either taking another job or that there was friction.

But neither of those two things are true.

“I’m fine. My family is fine,” Pioli told Jordan Schultz of The Athletic via text message. “This was my choice and it’s just time. Time for what, I don’t know, yet.”

Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff, a good friend of Pioli's who worked alongside him for the past five years, said as much, saying they were on great terms and that Pioli is just fine:

“This isn’t to take another job right now,” said Dimitroff. “This is just something Scott and I have been talking about for a while now. We talked about it a year ago at this time, and we said we would revisit it after we got through the draft. We’ve been talking quite a bit over the last few days. Scott wants to look at other things. I don’t want to answer for him, but he’s in a great place, and we’re in a great place.”

Sometimes, people simply want a change, and that seems to be the case with Pioli, who doesn't seem to have any issues with anyone.

The Falcons are coming off a 2018 campaign in which they won just six games and missed the playoffs. They made the playoffs the previous year, and during the 2016 campaign, Atlanta made the Super Bowl before infamously blowing a 25-point lead in a loss to the New England Patriots.