The Falcons are entering their third season under General Manager Terry Fontenot and head coach Arthur Smith with a lot of cap room.
After living with $88 million in dead-cap money following the Matt Ryan trade last offseason, Atlanta should have somewhere around $56 million in cap space this offseason. They could spend some of that on another quarterback.
The team signed Marcus Mariota in free agency and drafted Desmond Ridder in the third round in 2022. Mariota went 5-8 as a starter with Ridder going 2-2.
Fontenot said this week that the Falcons want to continue bringing people into the building for the position.
“We have two quarterbacks on the roster,” Fontenot said, via D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We’re excited about where we are, but yet, we are going to add players. You have teams that put a lot of cap space at that position and some teams that don’t. But I will say that we always want to keep adding to the [group].”
Mariota signed a two-year deal as a free agent last year, though the team could save $12 million in cap space by releasing him. Ridder will enter the second season of his four-year rookie contract.
Ridder completed 63.5 percent of his passes for 708 yards with two touchdowns and no picks in his four starts. He also fumbled three times, losing two of them.
Fontenot said Ridder “did some really good things” in his four-start stretch.
“We keep talking about Desmond’s mindset and the way he carries himself and the way he works,” Fontenot said. “So, we know that he’s going to look at the good things he did and look at the things he needs to improve on.
“He’s going to have a great offseason and be ready to roll.”
In addition to their substantial cap space, the Falcons have the No. 8 pick in this year’s draft.
