Raheem Morris just made it very clear Falcons will pursue top quarterbacks during 2024 offseason
The Atlanta Falcons were a very frustrating team to watch in 2023 and a lot of it was because of the awful play behind center.Former head coach Arthur Smith didn't do much to help the situation by bouncing back and forth between Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke, either. Ultimately, it cost Smith his job and […]
The Atlanta Falcons were a very frustrating team to watch in 2023 and a lot of it was because of the awful play behind center.
Former head coach Arthur Smith didn't do much to help the situation by bouncing back and forth between Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke, either. Ultimately, it cost Smith his job and now the Falcons have a new head coach in Raheem Morris.
The futures of Ridder and Heinicke are currently unknown, but Morris made his opinion of them quite clear when spoke to reporters at the 2024 NFL Combine.
"If we had better quarterback play, I would probably not be standing here at this podium,” said Morris.
Ouch. It's abundantly clear Ridder and Heinicke aren't the favorites to win the job in 2024 and they're not even favorites to make the final 53-man roster, at this point.
With that being said – expect the Falcons to make big moves in an attempt to land a viable signal-caller in 2024. Whether it's through free agency (think Baker Mayfield or Kirk Cousins), a big-time trade (think Justin Fields), or a big-time draft move (think trading up to No. 1 with the Bears or simply taking a QB at No. 8 overall), the Falcons are going to get something done, in a big way.
A head coach just doesn't say something like that unless he makes it absolutely clear it's a joke and even then, they're not going to say that 99% of the time because people like me will totally write about it. The full context here, though, is Morris did not make it seem like he was joking when he said this.
Atlanta has the cap space to make a move happen, too, at more than $32.8 million in the bank. And, with moves like releasing Heinicke, they can create a lot more (releasing Heinicke would save almost $7 million against the cap).
It's pretty clear what's going to happen next. It's just a matter of "when" and not "if".
