For weeks, teams around the league have had the option of making an aggressive pursuit of Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who was issued the non-exclusive franchise tag earlier this offseason. Very little interest has emerged regarding either an offer sheet or a tag-and-trade. Among the seemingly uninterested parties, the Atlanta Falcons.
Atlanta was the first team reported to turn down the former MVP, whose contract standoff with the Ravens has taken a number of public turns. The most recent of those was Jackson’s revelation that he has had a month-long standing trade request with Baltimore, since the team has remained unwilling to meet his asking price.
One day after Jackson’s desire to be traded become known, the Falcons committed to 2022 third-round QB Desmond Ridder as their starter heading into next season. The 23-year-old served as Atlanta’s QB1 for four games to close out the 2022 campaign, taking over from veteran Marcus Mariota.
While Ridder did not post eye-catching numbers in his audition, he did enough to help convince the Falcons that they could afford to avoid the high cost -- in both draft capital and finances -- which would be required to land Jackson.
“He won a lot of games in college and helped Luke Fickell at Cincinnati really change the whole culture of that program,” Falcons head coach Arthur Smith said during an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show (video link). “And I certainly think that experience, you start that many games coming in helps… And certainly there’s a lot of things we all can continue to improve, but we’ve got a lot of faith in him.”
Ridder, the second signal-caller drafted in last year’s underwhelming quarterbacks class, went 2-2 in his rookie year. He has three more team-friendly years from a financial standpoint, which would help explain the Falcons’ patient approach under center. The cap dilemma Atlanta would put themselves in with Jackson -- not long after clearing up a number of expensive contracts, including that of Matt Ryan -- should not be overlooked.
“The belief becomes so much more transactional,” Smith said. “It’s our job to understand the markets that’s going on, and who’s available, who’s not, do they fit… 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.”
The Falcons currently have just over $21.5M in cap space, which ranks sixth in the NFL. That comes after the team elected to add veteran signal-caller Taylor Heinicke as their backup, a role he was willing to accept. While Jackson would offer far more in the way of pedigree than a Ridder-Heinicke duo, Atlanta remains in line with the rest of the league in turning their attention away from the former MVP during roster-building season.
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