Last season, the Atlanta Falcons had high hopes that former No. 2 overall pick Marcus Mariota was the team’s new face of the franchise and the right man for the job under center.
Although Mariota showed signs of promise at times for the Falcons, the veteran quarterback couldn’t shoulder the load as the starter and was demoted, paving the way for rookie Desmond Ridder to take over.
Ahead of his second season with the Falcons, Ridder will be the starter right out of the gate for Atlanta, with the team seemingly confident in his ability to help right the ship for the struggling franchise.
Team owner Arthur Blank recently spoke about Ridder and the way the Falcons feel about him ahead of the 2023 campaign, and he admitted to needing to see more of him as the starter, but there’s some confidence there moving forward, via Josh Kendall of The Athletic.
Arthur Blank on Desmond Ridder: "We feel pretty strongly that he’s going to be our quarterback of the future. We have to play games and we have to see, but we feel good about him."
— Josh Kendall (@JoshTheAthletic) August 1, 2023
After taking over for Mariota last season, Ridder played four games as the starter to close out a forgettable 2022 NFL season for the Falcons, finishing with a record of 2-2.
Although Ridder was able to avoid making a lot of mistakes through the air, throwing zero interceptions during the four games he played, he did have some issues when it came to handling the football on the ground, as he coughed up the ball three times.
Obviously, that’s an issue moving forward, but it’s not something that can’t be corrected with more reps, which he will get during the upcoming season if he remains the starter.
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