Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder has seven games to prove himself
Ridder, who began the season as Atlanta’s starting quarterback only to be demoted for two games before taking over as starter again, tried to approach everything the same.
But being the backup to Taylor Heinicke offered a new perspective. In some ways, it allowed him to observe and see things almost the way a coach would. It allowed him to process day-to-day activities differently because unlike last season when he was the backup to Marcus Mariota for the first three months of the season, this time he had the experience of being an NFL starter, too.
“It kind of like clicked in my head,” Ridder said. “Like something that might be a little different or something that might help you. So just, it wasn’t going up there saying, ‘Hey, this needs to be this, this needs to be this, I’m not comfortable with this.’
“But more, just, tweaking little things, whatever they may be.”
It’s part of Ridder’s development process as he enters a critical point early in his career. The next seven games will determine a lot about Ridder’s future as a starting quarterback. If he plays well and continues to improve, it’s reasonable to believe Atlanta will continue forward with him.
If he doesn’t, it’ll give Atlanta the answer it needs as to whether to enter the free agency or draft conversations this offseason.
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In 12 starts between 2022 and 2023, Ridder completed 64.8% of his passes for 2,448 yards, eight touchdowns and six interceptions. He had, though, posted a higher completion percentage this season (65.4%) than his rookie year, and averaged more yards per game (193.3) and more yards per attempt (7.1).
Now he’s back in the role again, with some tweaks: speaking up more — a lesson many quarterbacks around the league have learned and implemented throughout their careers — and getting back to himself.
“It’s going out there playing free,” Ridder said. “[If you’re] going out there and playing with a sense of not to mess things up. When you do that, you start to play slow, start to second-guess.”
While Ridder wouldn’t say he began to second-guess himself, he did say he began to question other things, which left him playing hesitant and slower than he wanted. Add the turnovers — six interceptions, six lost fumbles — and it made sense to offer him a different perspective for a few weeks.
Falcons coach Arthur Smith said Monday he felt a “reset would be very beneficial for him.”
Smith was happy with how Ridder handled it — he was active in meetings and helped Heinicke prepare to be the starter against the Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals — and saw a quarterback perhaps with a full complement of confidence back.
Ridder can also take solace that he’s not the first quarterback to go through it. Former New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, a future Hall of Famer, was benched early in his career and rebounded well. Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was benched in-game during his rookie year. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith was briefly benched in his second season with the New York Jets for Michael Vick in 2014 before regaining the starting job (although by 2015 he no longer had the starting gig at all).
There’s also a bunch of young quarterbacks who were benched and never made it back.
Ridder said multiple people around the Falcons building talked with him about young quarterbacks who’d been benched and then returned with success (he didn’t say which quarterbacks were specifically mentioned). They did so, he said, to remind him he wasn’t done as a quarterback.
“I just took that and ran with it,” Ridder said. “Just knowing that, you know, my opportunity is gonna come again. And like I said, when it does, I’ll just take full advantage of it.”