Atlanta Falcons: Marcus Mariota heading to IR, likely done for season

Now the signing of Logan Woodside makes a lot more sense for the Atlanta Falcons as they will be putting newly-benched Marcus Mariota on injured reserve, according to head coach Arthur Smith.

It initially seemed like the Falcons were going to demote Mariota to third-string quarterback following the signing of Woodside but clearly, they were just preparing to put Mariota on injured reserve, essentially ending his season.

Atlanta Falcons will place QB Marcus Mariota on injured reserve

What started out with optimism has now ended in bitter disappointment. We all hoped that Marcus Mariota, a former second-overall pick, had revitalized his career and would bring success to the Atlanta Falcons franchise. Instead, it has ended in his benching and placement on the infamous injured reserve.

He played well at points—particularly against a tough 49ers defense—but ultimately succumbed to the difficulty of playing quarterback in the NFL. Who knows if this is the end, but it truly seems like the Falcons have moved on from him.

They are reporting that he has a knee injury that will land him on injured reserve soon, but when did he get injured? It seems to have come out of nowhere. This is in no way to suggest that it is a made-up injury, because, undoubtedly, he is injured, but if he didn’t get benched, would he avoid injured reserve?

We will never know the answer to that but this whole sequence of events just sounds the alarm that they have completely moved on from him.

Truthfully, they gave him more chances than most quarterbacks get. He is a great person but his play on the field became so erratic that there were no more excuses to keep him on the field. Now they are handing the keys over to the rookie Desmond Ridder, and seemingly giving newly-signed QB, Logan Woodside, the backup role.