Falcons 'Tanking' for USC QB Caleb Williams?

USC quarterback Caleb Williams is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Should the Atlanta Falcons tank to draft him?

With former Tampa Bay Buccaneers' quarterback Tom Brady having retired, the NFC South appears to be even more wide open than it was a season ago. With a plethora of young talent, there's some thought that coach Arthur Smith's Atlanta Falcons could potentially emerge with the NFC South title in 2023. 

If Atlanta had certainty at quarterback, they would likely be the overwhelming favorites to capture their first NFC South title since 2016. But with uncertainty about second-year quarterback Desmond Ridder, that isn't the case. 

While Ridder may very well take a step forward in his first full season as Atlanta's starter, Bleacher Report recently suggested another way to solve the quarterback situation in Atlanta ... tanking for USC's Caleb Williams.

"General manager Terry Fontenot and Co. can't operate as if a recent third-round pick is the solution to their problems," Bleacher Report writes. "If Ridder tears it up during his sophomore campaign, that's great. But the organization must currently look at the best possible path toward winning championships, which is upgrading at quarterback by any means necessary." 

The problem with this idea is that it assumes that a switch can be flipped and you just start tanking whenever the front office and coaching staff decide that it's in the best interests of the team's long-term future. However, players are never going to roll over, and most coaches aren't wired to tank, even if it would benefit them in the long run. Tanking isn't done by telling players and coaches to stop trying, it's done by building a roster so poor that even with everyone giving 100 percent, you just don't win games. 

In this case -- with Williams expected to be the No. 1 overall pick -- the Falcons would need to win less games than the 31 other teams to have a shot to draft the reigning Heisman Trophy winner. And that just doesn't feel especially likely. 

Without one roster that stands out in the NFC South, it may be hard for any team in the division to land the top selection because they'll have six chances against underwhelming teams to win games. 

For Atlanta specifically, an argument could be made that they've overachieved by going 7-10 in each of Smith's first two seasons as coach. It's hard to think that with the addition of running back Bijan Robinson, this team is going to be significantly worse in 2023. The more likely scenario is that even if Ridder isn't great, Robinson, running back Tyler Allgeier, receiver Drake London, tight end Kyle Pitts and Swiss-Army knife Cordarrelle Patterson will be enough for Atlanta to at least be a .500-ish team in 2023. That's the risk you take in drafting a bunch of skill-position talent before you are sure you have your franchise quarterback, you may end up just good enough to not have a shot to land someone like Williams. 

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