Fantasy Fallout: Desmond Ridder to Start for Falcons

The rookie QB makes his NFL starting debut and that could be good news for another Falcons rookie.

How bad is the quarterback situation in fantasy football? Between injuries, ineffectiveness and old age, even fantasy managers fortunate enough to make the postseason might have some difficult decisions to make at the position. What if Lamar Jackson, who’s already ruled out for Week 15, is your starting quarterback, and you have to start the fantasy playoffs with someone off the waiver wire? Considering the shaky group of options out there, you could probably do much worse than to roll with Falcons rookie Desmond Ridder in his first career NFL start.

Marcus Mariota entered his bye week ranked 12th in fantasy points scored among quarterbacks, but that wasn’t good enough to keep the starting job in Atlanta. At 5-8, the Falcons are still one game out of first place in the putrid NFC South, but head coach Arthur Smith announced last week that Ridder will take over when Atlanta meets the Saints in New Orleans this week.

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Ridder, a third-round pick in the 2022 draft, passed for 3,334 yards and 30 touchdowns last season at the University of Cincinnati. General practice is to call a conservative game plan when starting a rookie for the first time, but remember that the Falcons’ offense can’t get much more conservative than it was with Mariota under center. Mariota tends to take off and run with the ball quicker than most quarterbacks, so it’s fair to expect Ridder to attempt more passes than his predecessor.

Not that Atlanta has many weapons in the passing game. Tight end Kyle Pitts only played 10 games in 2022 before being lost for the season, and he’s still third on the team in receptions. The team’s top receiver is rookie Drake London, who’s got a modest 47 receptions for 533 yards and four touchdowns.

London could be the big winner in the move to start Ridder. The eighth overall pick in this year’s draft, London had a season-high 95 yards in Week 13 against the Steelers. If Ridder stays in the pocket just a second longer than Mariota might, it could lead to more opportunities for London to make big plays.

London is rostered in 77% of Sleeper.com fantasy leagues, but he’s only in the starting lineup in 32% of leagues. Whether or not Ridder makes a big fantasy impact this week, he could make London a worthy start.