The Atlanta Falcons insist Desmond Ridder will be the team’s starting quarterback in 2023 although head coach Arthur Smith suggested the NFC South franchise have spent the off-season exploring options - which may have included superstar Lamar Jackson.
On Monday, Jackson - whose future has been one of the biggest storylines across the offseason - announced he had requested a trade from the Baltimore Ravens earlier this month on March 2. The Ravens placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on the 26-year-old five days later, allowing teams to negotiate with Jackson while he and the team have until 17 July to agree a multi-year extension.
Other NFL franchises may sign the former MVP to an offer sheet - and Jackson is clearly willing to force a move if needed with his trade request. However, it appears Atlanta will not pursue the quarterback as they feel the position is filled on their roster in Ridder.
The Falcons selected Ridder in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft and Smith installed him as the starter ahead of Marcus Mariota for the final few games of the seasons. The rookie out of Cincinnati lead Atlanta to two wins to close the season, with the team finishing 7-10.
Smith clearly believes Ridder is the answer at quarterback and is ready to move forward with the 23-year-old instead of pursuing Jackson and having already released Mariota. During an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show, Smith said: “He won a lot of games in college and helped Luke Fickell at Cincinnati really change the whole culture of that program. And I certainly think that experience, you start that many games coming in helps, we certainly saw that early on as we threw everything we could at him. And he was impressive, and we felt that he was ready to take over at that time of the season, and I thought he did a nice job. Cool, collected under pressure.
“At the end of the day, you've got to be able to operate on critical third downs, fourth downs, two-minute situations, and I thought he'd done that pretty well. And certainly there's a lot of things we all can continue to improve, but we've got a lot of faith in him.”
In his four games under centre, Ridder completed 63.4 percent of his passes for 708 yards and a pair of touchdowns. While his statistics are hardly mind-blowing, Ridder did lead the Falcons to crucial wins over rivals to do enough to clinch the starting job for the upcoming 2023 season.
Ultimately, his performances were encouraging enough that Smith believes he can develop the former Cincinnati quarterback into a star rather than moving for one in the form of Jackson. The 40-year-old said: “I mean look at the people that are willing to make trades and they happen quick now, and I think any time any player… it's our job to understand the markets that's going on, and who's available, who's not, do they fit, and there's a lot of things that go into it.
“With those transactions, where you're willing to spend in the salary cap, and there's great debates - certainly makes your shows more interesting - and that's great for the league, but at the end of the day you've got to do what you think is best for your team and what you're building and how it fits into that puzzle."
With Atlanta one of the most talked about possible destinations for Jackson, not least because they have had a huge amount of cap space to operate in, Smith did drop a few hints that the Falcons may have looked into a possible deal
“And like I said there's a lot of great players and they become available it seems now more than ever. I mean look at the deals that were done a year ago and you've got a quarterback that's on a huge deal a year ago that's available now. And that was unheard of 20 years ago.”
Jackson is available to negotiate and sign an offer sheet with any franchise, although the Ravens will be able to match any contract made to the quarterback, while they will be owed two first round picks from any suitor should they opt against matching any deal that comes Jackson's way. It is a lot of capital - and money - to give a quarterback, although the 2019 MVP is perhaps worth it.
