Arthur Blank: Falcons Feel 'Pretty Strongly' Desmond Ridder Is 'Our QB of the Future'

The Atlanta Falcons are all in on second-year quarterback Desmond Ridder.

Team owner Arthur Blank told reporters on Tuesday that the feeling around the building is that Ridder is going to be the franchise quarterback going forward:

"I like our young quarterback. People look at just the last four games last year and they say, well, based on those four games, but he really progressed from the time he came on campus here after he was drafted, had a good camp, and he's been a strong leader since he's shown up here. Continued to develop. Worked well with (Marcus) Mariota last year, learned a lot from Marcus. He's a learner, and he's got a lot of humility."

"As the year progressed, he had an opportunity to play, and I think he played at a very competitive level. Those last four games each game seemed to be a little bit better. So, we feel pretty strongly that he's going to be our quarterback of the future. We've got to play games and we've got to see, but we feel good about him."

Ridder, 23, made four starts for the Falcons last season, going 2-2 in those games. He threw for 708 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions while taking nine sacks and completing 63.5 percent of his passes.

He inherits an offense loaded with talent, including wideout Drake London, tight end Kyle Pitts, running backs Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier and multi-purpose weapon Cordarrelle Patterson.

So Ridder will have an excellent supporting cast. The question is whether he can utilize it and help lead the Falcons to a division title in a weak NFC South. Blank, at least, is a believer.