Well, ya know...the RB and WR position is a star position. The Titans failed over n over with talented athletes like many teams do. If Hunter was a gem or DGB or...things would have been a lot different.Well, I'll definitely be rooting for him to succeed. And for that matter I think they got a steal in Ridder because I was high on him before the draft.
I'm cautious though because if the reason he had trouble in the past was he didn't have Henry around to take the focus of the defense off of him, and AJ hadn't broken out into a superstar at WR so his WR's were unproven, and the OL didn't do a great job to protect him..... well, that sounds an awful lot like his current situation(unless you are big believer in London). Mariota has always seemed like a smart guy to me so maybe he'll be better at this point in his career at managing those challenges. Definitely would rather avoid seeing Ridder on the field too early to give him the absolute best chance to have success when he does make his way to the field.
Atlanta (not counting Ridley) has some really promising young talent and they're big just like Smith covets.
The run game is a problem and I don't think they solved it. Their line is better but it's not there. They can't build a great team in one off-season so those are their glaring weaknesses. The stable of targets is getting stacked though so....progress.
Marcus is intelligent and careful with excellent ball placement. The Titans had bad WRs that couldn't win battles and he often found a way to get it to Matthews or Delanie. When those two faded, so did Marcus' play. It's extremely difficult to play QB in the league behind a bad OL with WRs that can't win one on one. He developed a bad panicking habit that most assumed would continue. Las Vegas had some nice targets and when he played, he was not panicky. It appears it was related to the quality of targets. He never got enough reps to get real confident but he looked good and made us wonder if he's gonna be ok.
I think Atlanta has pieces they can scheme with- a good assortment of guys that are probably a mismatch many snaps each week.
They were a 3-4 win team that stole some games last year to have a better record than anyone expected so the team has totally bought into Pees and Smith.
They could get lucky and claim some linemen on the WW that pan out but it's probably next year.
Marcus playing shotgun in OTAs is something he wasn't allowed to do in Ten much because "he has to learn to stay in the pocket." A lot of quotes on his speed make me wonder what he was doing for players to see him running. We don't have much info to go on but that little bit is a little positive.
I wouldn't put Marcus up for gaudy stats. He never really was much for FF. He needs to survive a year behind another bad OL and not stir up bad habits. If so then he's got a rejuvenated career.
(Today my guess) If not, I don't know that Ridder plays a lot. Suppose Marcus takes 4-5 wicked hits from DL. No one in Atlanta is going to be saying let's get Ridder beaten up. It's a lot safer to buy him some time here n there and hand the reins over in 2023 with a "don't panic like Marcus" message.
I wouldn't be surprised if they have goal line packages for Ridder to come in and run. The Titans bring both coaches and QBs along with their first step being to learn red zone offense. They can get Ridder a taste of NFL action and enjoy his athleticism leading to points too.
Marcus is very much the punching bag here while Ridder is some jewel. I think way too many people are not considering this