Will Ridder play in 2022?

Falcons HC Arthur Smith left open the possibility that rookie QB Desmond Ridder gets some starts this season. “As with any position, the best guy is going to play,” Smith said. “With Marcus [Mariota] being the veteran, that’s the way it’ll go for now.” So Mariota will head to training camp atop the depth chart and should be considered the favorite to start Week 1. But it'd certainly make sense for the Falcons to get a good look at Ridder before deciding whether they want to dive back into the QB market in 2023. Ridder was the best player on Atlanta's board when they selected him 74th overall on Friday night. “There was never a time where Arthur Smith and I said we have to come out of this draft with a quarterback,” GM Terry Fontenot said. “He was the best player on the board at that time, and that’s why we took him.”