Cincinnati Football: Atlanta Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder prepares for upcoming campaign

Atlanta Falcons starting quarterback and former Cincinnati Bearcats star Desmond Ridder is hoping to find success as he continues to prepare for the upcoming campaign.

Despite falling short in his first career start, the Falcons second-year quarterback displayed impressive potential and earned an opportunity to start moving forward.

Ridder has plenty of room for improvement but seems headed in the right direction as Atlanta gets ready to play the Miami Dolphins in the preseason opener on August 11.

The Louisville native spent four years at Cincinnati and became the winningest quarterback in program history before getting drafted by the Falcons in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Cincinnati Football: Atlanta Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder prepares for upcoming campaign

During his third career start last season, Ridder competed 19/26 of his passing attempts and finished with 178 total yards in a 20-19 win over the Arizona Cardinals in January.

Ridder compiled 10,239 passing yards and 115 total touchdowns en route to receiving back to back AAC Offensive Player of the Year awards in his memorable Bearcats career.

The former Cincinnati quarterback was drafted by Atlanta in the third round last April before eventually being promoted to starter when Marcus Mariota suffered a knee injury.

Cincinnati Football: Atlanta Falcons set to start second-year quarterback Desmond Ridder

Even though Atlanta’s offense struggled at times throughout last season, Ridder showed off noticeable improvement with his decision-making process and pocket presence.

Ridder explained why the Falcons will have an explosive offense next year and looked ahead to his second season in a recent interview with Around the NFL contributor Kevin Patra.

"“It feels good knowing that they have trust in me, they’ve seen that I’ve put in the work and effort as long as everyone else to go out there and lead the team. Just knowing from them, that they have my full trust and respect, that they know that I can go out here and lead our team, it means everything to me. As an offense, you look for explosive plays, and get them anyway you can. We’re able to go out there, and whether it’s the run game, pass game, play-action, it doesn’t matter, we think that we’re gonna be pretty explosive. However that comes, we just want to be explosive.”"