Column: Atlanta has a quarterback issue, but there's a good chance the process of finding one - short or long term - will be more complicated than it needs to be
There are so many parts of sports that are great, enjoyable, memorable.
And then there are the situations when teams have a quarterback issues, and folks lose their minds and memories and – pondering the right word – standards, and comprehension.
Like with Atlanta.
Sorry, wise people are very hesitant to dive into the draft for a quarterback. Thus, loads of people want the Falcons to dive into a draft for the quarterback.
Wrong move.
In the last five drafts, here are the quarterbacks taken in the top 10: Kyler Murray and Daniel Jones in 2019; Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovaioloa, and Justin Herbert in 2020; Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, and Trey Lance in 2021; none in 2022, the first QB going 20th; Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson in 2023.
One year doesn’t a star make, so calm down about Stroud just yet. For now. But it looks good for him.
Burrow is a clear win, Tua right behind him. Lawrence and Murray haven’t lived up to expectations, and we need more time on Lance and Herbert and Jones.
Young needs all sorts of help, and Wilson is now allowed – if not encouraged – to seek a trade, and Richardson got hurt.
Only Tagovaioloa and Stroud were in the playoffs this year.
The previous five years: Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, and Josh Rosen in 2018; Mitchell Trubisky and Patrick Mahomes in 2017; Jared Goff, Carson Wentz in 2016; Jamies Winston, Marcus Mariota in 2015, and Blake Bortles in 2014.
Only Mahomes and Allen are with their draft teams.
Bortles as a starter: 24-49. Winston, 34-46. Mariota, 34-40. Mayfield is 40-46. Darnold is 21-35 on three teams. Murray is 28-36-1, and Jones 22-36-1. Herbert is up to 30-32.Can’t miss Lawrence is 20-30. Wilson is 12-21.
Rosen is out of the league.
Winners? Goff is 66-50-1. Wentz is 47-45-1, but hasn’t been QB1 since 2021. Trubisky is 31-26. Mahomes and Allen are givens.
Yes, yes indeed, a top-10 draft pick quarterback is the way to go. On another planet, of course. And so many seeeeem to be on another planet, so …
After a year where Mr. Irrelevant went to the Super Bowl – and was not the reason his team lost – and grampa Joe Flacco jumped in the Browns’ offense cold and went to the playoffs, can we unclench about some college resumes?
Plus, nobody talks about the right fit with the right offense and coaches, and adding the transition of a rookie quarterback and perhaps a new coaching staff. Then there’s always the pressure to play a rookie who’s not ready.
Some experienced quarterbacks may be possibilities.
Kirk Cousins is a nice choice, but only at a nice price. He doesn’t seem ready to take a nice price, and it appears Minnesota is willing to overpay a 36-year-old off an injury.
Atlanta just got out of cap hell. No logical reason to fall back in for just a year or two at best.
Baker Mayfield is a nice choice, coming off a momentum-building season in which he steered Tampa Bay to the playoffs and revamped his rep pretty well.
He’s scrappy and increasingly efficient, things all Atlanta fan bases aren’t about. Shiny and misleadingly competent, Atlanta folks love those traits.
Note that the Falcons’ winning percentage equals pretty much what its fan base gets.
At 29, he has experience and is on a roll and hungry, and has stayed healthy. He appears to have matured a bit, too.
Russell Wilson is not the answer, for so many reasons. Age, durability, overpaid, and not really bringing a great rep along with him these days.
Atlanta doesn’t need disruption while in transition.
And now to the highly considered/clamored for candidate the Falcons should only barely consider.
Where a player is from is as irrelevant as whether they paint their toenails. Usually, that pressure of “ooooooooh, they’re from here” only adds to pressure and distractions.
So again, on all levels in all sports, geography and birthplace doesn’t mean crap. And every other version of “crap” you want to use.
More than that is that fact that Justin Fields is a subpar NFL quarterback. Period.
Fewer yards passed for than Desmond Ridder in 2023, fewer yards per game. Lower completion percentage than Desmond Ridder. QB rating only 3 points higher. Sacked 13 more times than Desmond Ridder. Longest pass completed is 13 yards shorter than Desmond Ridder.
Did throw four more touchdown passes and three fewer interceptions than Ridder. Note that Fields did have fewer fumbles, only two, and lost fewer, three less.
It was a year of some transition for Ridder. It would be a year of phenomenal transition for Fields, and the entire offense.
Why in the world are people clamoring for the quarterback of a 7-10 team to take over for a 7-10 team? Explain that, using legit football logic and knowledge that has nothing to do with his hometown or first college. Remember how folks grumbling with the head coach decision, when the right one, so to speak, was made.
Yeah, Bill Belichick would’ve been a lovely pairing with Justin Fields. “Yes, Mac Jones calling for Justin Fields. Thank you.”
Raheem Morris was pretty blunt last week about how he’d not be in charge if the Falcons had better quarterback play. There’s been plenty of “duh, really, you call that brilliant postseason analysis?” blather out there, as if it’s news.
A combination of Ridder failing to grow and improve, even after sitting, and general offensive management by Arthur Smith and company led to subpar and inconsistent production from that spot.
Had Ridder just been fairly competent and efficient, Atlanta probably makes the playoffs, and we don’t know if that would really be enough to look ahead with optimism. But playoffs are always better than no playoffs, and they didn’t make it.
The Bears, a mess, are 16-35 with Fields as the top passer. No, he hasn’t had much help, on the roster or from the headsets.
Conversely, has he made the Bears better? Consistently lifted them up?
In 2023, he went 6 for 10 for 58 yards, 11 for 22 for 99 yards, threw for more than two touchdowns in two out of 13 starts, was sacked three or more times in 11 games, almost every game.
He had a nice game against Atlanta. So what.
He’s from Atlanta. So what.
Started out at Georgia. So what.
Please, people, stop with the irrelevance of geography. That tight end in red and black is from Cali. QB is from somewhere else, too. Got key players from Illinois, and Virginia, and Tennessee, and, Australia. So, see, it doesn’t matter.
Playing near home can add distractions and unfair pressure, and it’s not always a fit.
All that is nothing against Fields. He got stuck in a tough situation, which isn’t his fault. But development has been expectedly slow, and he’s gotten lots of heat in Chicago, a tough place to play.
But all that, everything, leads to the clear conclusion that no, he’s not the answer, not this year, and not worth trading many players.
Now, to the candidate nobody talks about because nobody really sits down and thinks about stuff much, especially if the teeveecomtwits don’t mention it (and most anything is too cerebral for ESPN’s nighttime radio clowns).
Yes, Taylor Heinicke.
I’ll wait while you smirk or guffaw or hoot or pfft or curse or laugh.
Atlanta, with this roster and offense, needs a game manager, which in reality for people of logic and wisdom, is a major compliment.
Managing well is good. Really.
That said, no, his stats in 2023 weren’t great. They were fairly fitting and unsurprising considering the circumstances: 74 for 136, 54.4 percent, 5 TDs, 4 INTs, 53 rushes for 193 yards and 5 TDs.
When called on to captain a sinking ship, few are going to turn it into the Queen Mary. But Atlanta, and folks pointed this out regularly, played better with Heinicke at quarterback. And if you’re going to make excuses for Fields …
Certainly folks in the stands were less stressed watch him.
Atlanta doesn’t need to go apepoop crazy in the quarterback search for 2024. Sure, explore options, but don’t feel the need to do something huge, when huge may be wrong.
It often is.
Heinicke knows the offensive talent on the team, and here’s hoping the new regime doesn’t change much of the philosophy. A little more run than pass is fine for this team.
And a QB who can handle not throwing 40 times a game isn’t a bad call. Just come out, make the right reads at the line, the right reads during the pass, get the team out of the wrong play, and don’t force things. Make the simple plays.
Kind of a lot of things he’s done in his career, and stuff last year’s starter didn’t do much of, and stuff that, frankly, Fields hasn’t shown much proficiency with.
Atlanta scored 17, 29, 23, 28 and 23 in Heinicke’s five games, an average of 24 for a team that got 18.9 points a game. The season high of 29 points was with Heinicke at QB.
That’s something. That’s relevant.
Heinicke is a career 62.5-percent passer, right behind Matthew Stafford (63.2). He’s been stuck in a mess, three years with Washington and one with Carolina, and was steady in his year as the starter in 2021 (62.2 percent, 12-6 TD/INT, 85.9 rating).
He is 13-15-1 as a starter with three teams. No, not great. But Fields is 10-28.
Clamoring? Because he’s got above-average mobility? That’s not what teams need from a quarterback.
No, Heinicke isn’t a long-term answer. There are very, very few long-term answers at quarterback (see the above records)..
But Atlanta could spend or waste a lot more money to do a lot worse.