The Atlanta Falcons have a ton of talent on offense, with a core of young dynamic skill players for whatever quarterback ends up as the starter for 2024 and possibly beyond.
While new head coach Raheem Morris is a defensive-minded head coach, he fully understands the team is a quarterback away from becoming a true contender in the NFC. While they finished with a (7-10) overall record, the 2023 Falcons lost by one score or less in five of their losses last season. They appeared to play down to competition, with losses to the Panthers, Cardinals and Jets on their resume but had impressive wins over the Packers and Texans as well as the Saints and Colts.
By this point, it appears to be abundantly clear the Atlanta Falcons brass has decided Desmond Ridder — who they selected in the third round in the 2022 NFL Draft — is not the long-term answer as the franchise signal caller.
Ridder has been wildly inconsistent, finishing 2023 with just 2,836 yards and just 12 touchdowns to match his 12 interceptions and 12 fumbles while taking 31 sacks including seven in one game against the Detroit Lions in September.
NFL.com rated Ridder 28th of the 32 starting quarterbacks in 2023. Here’s what they said about the Atlanta Falcons QB.
One cannot simply pin Arthur Smith’s firing on Ridder, but the second-year quarterback had a lot to do with it. Smith expected Ridder to grow as an entrenched starter, but what he instead received was an inconsistent quarterback who showed flashes of his potential, yet too often made crushing mistakes that doomed the Falcons. Smith’s patience with the second-year quarterback eventually ran out, prompting him to bench Ridder for Taylor Heinicke. When Heinicke predictably failed to provide the reliability Smith so desperately sought, the coach ping-ponged between players for the rest of the season, giving Ridder the exact opposite of what he needed: stability. Atlanta will be expected to seek another option at the position, and after yet another 7-10 season
While Ridder could stick around in Atlanta as a starter, his future is uncertain but it’s abundantly clear Morris and the new staff are seeking a QB that can maximize a roster with a young, dynamic offensive corps made up of Bijan Robinson in the backfield, Drake London who began to emerge as a true No. 1 WR last season and Kyle Pitts, who still hasn’t had the opportunity to live up to the hype he deserves for his raw talent and ability to create matchup nightmares as a tight end.
Atlanta Falcons Have Kirk Cousins As No. 1 Priority According To Report
There has been a ton of speculation the Falcons are locked in to acquiring Chicago Bears QB Justin Fields who is almost certainly getting moved as the NFC North team is expected to select Caleb Williams and hope he performs quickly at the NFL level.
While that’s still a possibility, Raheem Morris and the Falcons believe they are a quarterback away from competing for Super Bowls and while Fields has shown significant improvement since his rookie seasoned, h’e’s far from a sure-thing when it comes to becoming a true franchise QB.
According to a report over the weekend, the Atlanta Falcons have done deep diligence on all three of the top veteran starting QBs available which includes Fields, Baker Mayfield and Kirk Cousins.
Statistically, there’s no question Cousins is the best option of that group.
The Vikings are “loosely bracing” for Cousins to remain unsigned by the March 11 legal tampering period and test the market, ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler indicates. This would open the door for the Atlanta Falcons to talk to the free agent-to-be, with Fowler adding the team has done plenty of work on Cousins, Fields and Mayfield.
Minnesota failing to reach an agreement with Cousins by the start of the 2024 league year (March 13) would bring $28.5MM in dead money onto its 2024 cap. Void years added as part of last year’s restructure will lead to that outcome. The Vikings ate some void years-driven dead money for losing Dalvin Tomlinson last year, but the Cousins figure would obviously bring more trouble by comparison.
With Minnesota planning to lock down Justin Jefferson to a history-making deal and Danielle Hunter’s future uncertain, there’s an obvious possibility the Vikings will bring in a different QB or draft a rookie form the deep NFL crop. The Atlanta Falcons landing KIrk Cousins could be a real possibility.
