3 Atlanta Falcons players in make or break situations this season

1. Desmond Ridder

There isn't one player on Atlanta's roster facing close to as much pressure as Desmond Ridder in the 2023 season. Already Desmond has been written off by a large portion of sports media and even his own fanbase. It seems so many are convinced that Ridder is going to fail with the simple analysis of the quarterback being a third-round pick or simply looking at the box scores of his first four starts.

We are very quickly going to find out how Desmond Ridder deals with a lot of expectations from the franchise while hearing plenty of outside noise about what he isn't. If things go sideways for Ridder the team is quickly going to turn to Taylor Heinicke and there is little chance that Desmond will start again in this league barring an injury or a desperate team.

That is the nature of the league one in which first-round picks like Tim Tebow or Josh Rosen get endless chances while later-round signal callers are often done after one failure. Ridder doesn't have to be great from week one but he must be consistent and capable of producing at a level that gives Atlanta a chance to win. If not Ridder's time as a starter in this league will quickly come to an end.