4 Things Desmond Ridder must do to stay Atlanta Falcons starting QB

4. Throw ten or fewer interceptions

In an offense that will often hand the ball to Patterson or Allgeier when close to scoring fans should be less worried about Ridder’s touchdown numbers and more so about how he takes care of the football.

The best thing that Ridder did in his four games with the Falcons was prove an elite ability to not turn the ball over. Though there was turnover worthy plays Ridder finished the season with zero interceptions in four starts.

While this level of production isn’t maintainable it is completely fair to expect Ridder to turn the ball over ten or fewer times in this offense.

Arthur Smith is going to run the football and focus on getting Ridder easy throws early on during the season as the young quarterback grows more comfortable. While this still will result in turnovers Ridder cannot be both low in production and high in turnovers even if he hits the other benchmarks but turns the ball over consistently the starting job will be debated depending on the timing of the turnovers, However, if all four of these goals are accomplished Ridder will be Atlanta’s starting quarterback for the next two seasons.