Falcons: Former NFL QB gives harsh assessment of Desmond Ridder

The Atlanta Falcons' decision to move forward with Desmond Ridder at quarterback has not been the most popular move in the media. Analysts are automatically casting off the former third-round pick just because he wasn't a higher draft pick.

Among those critics is former NFL quarterback and current NBC Sports Analyst Chris Simms, who recently gave Ridder a harsh assessment in his QB rankings.

Falcons QB Desmond Ridder ranked 40/40 on Chris Simms' QB rankings

Chris Simms, who was drafted in the third round of the 2003 NFL Draft. has released the lower section of his quarterback rankings and he clearly isn't a fan of Falcons QB Desmond Ridder.

Out of the 40 QBs Simms ranked, Ridder came in at 40. Yes, that is right, he thinks there are 39 QBs in the league that are better than Ridder. And somehow he came to that conclusion after four games.

Now you might be wondering who ranked ahead of him, well, rookies who have yet to play a snap—Anthony Richardson, C.J. Stroud, and Bryce Young—are just ahead of them. And then Sam Howell, Jarrett Stidham, Mike White, Gardner Minshew, and Taylor Heinicke are all ranked higher as well.

Where do you even start with this? He ranked three players who have yet to take a snap in the NFL higher. And then he gave the nod to four guys who have been known as backups—one of them is Ridder's own backup!

I am not surprised by his decision to rank Desmond Ridder dead last. Whenever Simms is sitting in front of the mic and the Falcons are the topic, he never has much optimism about their starting quarterback. I have heard him say that he never made any 'wow' throws and never showed the ability to be an above-average QB.

I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion and someone had to be ranked last. It is just kind of egregious that he didn't rank Ridder higher than a few QBs who have already shown their ceiling in the NFL—a low ceiling at that.