Final season, the Atlanta Falcons waited a very long time to bench Marcus Mariota in favor of rookie Desmond Ridder. Now the stress is on Ridder to assist elevate a franchise that lastly has the makings of a dynamic, balanced offense. Can Ridder be a viable fantasy soccer beginning QB in 2023?
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Desmond Ridder’s 2022 Season
Ridder is certainly one of this season’s true unknown fantasy quarterbacks. The 2022 third-round draft choose possesses the form of dual-threat talents that franchises crave lately. His 2,180 dashing yards with the Cincinnati Bearcats stand out, as do his 28 dashing scores.
That doesn’t imply he’ll be the following Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, or Justin Fields. And final yr, he barely confirmed off his floor recreation, netting solely 16 carries for 64 yards in 4 begins. However the potential for 400+ dashing yards is there.
Talking of final yr, after the Mariota experiment ended, the rookie closed out the season, working fairly conservatively whereas getting his toes moist alongside one of many league’s most effective backfields — so environment friendly, in actual fact, that Ridder didn’t have to do a lot, even when trailing.
In actual fact, Atlanta led the NFL with 559 dashing makes an attempt, and their 4.9 yards per carry ranked fourth. Ridder averaged solely 28.8 throws. For context, that was about two-thirds of Tom Brady’s quantity.
And simply as notably, Mariota averaged solely 23.1 throws. It could possibly be stated that the workforce trusted Ridder with the ball in his palms greater than they did the veteran Mariota. And this season, we’ll most likely see why.
Desmond Ridder’s 2023 Expectations
Ridder enters 2023 with a a lot completely different assortment of playmakers. That is key to understanding his potential as a weekly fantasy starter — if not this yr, then actually in future years. His practical ceiling in 2023 is significantly greater than what the market believes. The unusual factor is, primarily based on ADP, his flooring might be greater, too.
The market appears to view Ridder by means of the lens of these 4 odd end-of-season begins final yr when he didn’t have Kyle Pitts, didn’t have the incoming Bijan Robinson or Mack Hollins, and barely ran the ball.
Three of his opponents had been No. 3, No. 9, and No. 13 in fewest factors surrendered. Three opponents had been among the many prime seven in defensive sacks. And so forth.
One other issue working in Ridder’s favor is Atlanta’s schedule, which reportedly is the second-easiest within the league. Along with a number of favorable matchups of their comparatively smooth division, they’ll get the Texans, Commanders, and Vikings at residence, in addition to the Bears and Cardinals.
When the season ends, we’d look again and marvel at how the Falcons performed eight or 9 contests in opposition to bottom-10 defenses. A smooth schedule is a boon for a younger quarterback surrounded by one of many youngest corps of high-upside talent gamers conceivable (Drake London, Pitts, Robinson, and Tyler Allgeier).
Can Ridder be a fantasy starter this season? Completely. Presumably, not most weeks, although it’s doable he pushes for a top-12 end if issues break proper. That may necessitate huge steps ahead for London and Pitts, in addition to a well-rounded Rookie of the Yr marketing campaign for Robinson that features 40+ catches.
Extra conservatively, Ridder nonetheless looks like a very good guess to outperform ADP and function a fantasy streamer, notably throughout bye weeks. He was the No. 2 QB drafted, albeit in a weak quarterback class. Now he’s flying underneath lots of radars. He most likely received’t be undervalued for lengthy.
