Atlanta Falcons: Backup QB ranked among worst in the NFL

For the last several years, Atlanta Falcons fans have been begging the franchise to replace backup quarterback Matt Schaub. The fan base was hoping they would go younger and more athletic and instead, they just went younger.

Just after the NFL draft in April when the Atlanta Falcons chose not to draft a quarterback for the eighth straight draft, they signed AJ McCarron to backup Matt Ryan as Schaub chose to retire.

The last quarterback the Falcons drafted was Sean Renfree out of Duke with the 249th overall pick in 2013.

Like any other move the Atlanta Falcons have made over the last decade, the move was not well-liked and according to CBS Sports, didn’t actually improve the backup quarterback situation. In an article recently published, CBS Sports listed AJ McCarron as the 27th best backup quarterback in the NFL.

Hard for Atlanta Falcons fans not to take the ranking personally

Last season, CBS Sports ranked AJ McCarron as the 20th best backup in the NFL when he was in Houston backing up Deshaun Watson. They also had Matt Schaub as the 16th best backup in the NFL. McCarron dropping seven spots despite only attempting (completing) one pass in 2020 seems a bit odd.

Cody Benjamin had this to say about McCarron –

"Good for him carving out a career as a No. 2, but he might still be living off a three-game starting stretch as Andy Dalton’s fill-in from 2015. McCarron has been around the block, but he’s also never been that accurate and has often been banged up."

Regardless of whom the backup quarterback is, if Matt Ryan goes down the Atlanta Falcons will not be any good.

Many seem to still be upset that the Falcons chose not to take the fourth-best quarterback in April and instead chose to go with the best playmaker in the draft, Kyle Pitts. While they should have selected a quarterback at some point in the draft since the Falcons only had Ryan on the roster at the time, general manager Terry Fontenot believes that Atlanta will be attractive to quarterbacks in the future.

Only time will tell.

McCarron is not the future of the franchise and will meet the expectations of an NFL backup – prepare to play every week and don’t drop the clipboard.