As late as 2001 , Mark Norell and colleagues analyzed a large survey of coelurosaur fossils and produced the tentative result that dromaeosaurids were most closely related to birds , with troodontids as a more distant outgroup .
Mark Norell and colleagues analyzed a survey of coelurosaur fossils and suggested that dromaeosaurs were most closely related to birds , with troodontids as a more distant outgroup .