Falcons Head Coach Arthur Smith: Desmond Ridder 'Light Years Ahead of Most Young QBs'

Ridder is rounding out a nice start to his rookie year before Training Camp even begins.

© Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

CINCINNATI — Desmond Ridder's maturity and knack for NFL concepts were a big selling point for his draft stock earlier this year and that is showing through during his early chance to get in front of the Atlanta Falcons' brain trust. Head coach Arthur Smith said Ridder is "light years ahead of most young quarterbacks from the neck up."

During the pre-draft process, Ridder compared himself to the guy who played a large part in Smith being the head man for the Falcons: Ryan Tannehill. Ridder can see the field, deliver on time, and lead a team in similar ways. That is translating over into a system Tannehill thrived in and could lead to Ridder starting from Week 1 in Atlanta if he can nail down every throw in the playbook.

Ridder is even surprising himself during his short time in Georgia so far.

"The overall knowledge of the offense – I'm not going to lie, I thought I would come in struggle a little bit," Ridder told reporters. "We're almost all the way through all of our installs and putting in all those checks, and I have a good grasp of it. That surprised me, honestly. I'm not saying wouldn't have picked it up, but I thought it might've taken a bit longer, a couple of extra days. I've been able to pick up on it pretty smoothly."

"It was just the flow of it, the way my sentences are coming out in the huddle to the command I have at the line of scrimmage, just seeing the defense and seeing the offense," Ridder said. "Everything just came to me."

Watch Smith speak on Ridder's impressive start below.

Head Coach Arthur Smith on the growth “above the shoulders” of quarterback Desmond Ridder pic.twitter.com/D53KvlYaD7

— Garrett Chapman (@gchapatl) June 15, 2022

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