3 Quarterback trades the Atlanta Falcons must consider this off-season

3. Either of the two trades involving Carson Wentz

Whether it is Washington or Indy any team that has traded picks for Wentz thinking they simply needed a quarterback has lost the deal. Part of this is Carson never living up to his MVP-level performance on the Eagles’ way to winning the Super Bowl with Nick Foles taking over and beating Tom Brady.

Since that time Wentz has been a different player and both teams that believe it would be different lived to regret it.

Atlanta is a team that must learn from all three of these deals realizing that unless they get incredibly lucky as Tampa did with Brady or Denver with Peyton it isn’t often generational quarterbacks fall in your lap.

The easiest path to winning without having Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow is to focus on building a complete roster around Desmond Ridder. It is how both the Eagles and 49ers found their way to the conference championship and how the Ravens had themselves set up to win a playoff game with their backup quarterback before a terrible fumble swung the game.

There is a reason there have been so few truly great quarterbacks traded and why those rarely work.  A star quarterback is a bandaid for a team who is on the edge of contention or missing a Super Bowl piece for a complete roster. Atlanta cannot have it both ways and if they must choose, look at these three deals and weigh the risk vs. reward. Atlanta should lean towards bringing in a reliable backup and focusing on building a complete roster around Desmond Ridder it is the clearest path back to the playoffs and has far less risk for a team who still could have a franchise quarterback on a rookie deal.