3 Best early moves of the Atlanta Falcons off-season
By Nick Halden
2. Sticking with Desmond Ridder at quarterback
From everything the Atlanta Falcons coaching staff, front office, and owner have said thus far this off-season there is reason to believe Ridder is Atlanta’s starter moving forward. Despite the continual Lamar to Atlanta speculation the right move for the Falcons remains attempting to take advantage of having a quarterback on a rookie contract.
Building around Desmond Ridder and adding a reliable backup behind the second-year quarterback is clearly the move to make. Barring C.J. Stroud falling in the draft or Baltimore letting Lamar walk for far less than the speculated asking price Atlanta doesn’t have another path to building a complete roster.
Sure in the short-term signing Derek Carr, Jimmy G., or Geno Smith could push Atlanta’s win total. The problem with making one of these moves is the cost compared to keeping Ridder who could be every bit as good as any one of this year’s top free-agent quarterbacks. Add in the fact that Ridder is just in the second year of a 3rd round rookie deal and Atlanta should have zero reasons to change course.