Should I Start Desmond Ridder in Week 15? Fantasy Football Outlook

The Atlanta Falcons have officially named rookie Desmond Ridder as their starting quarterback.

Ridder will make his first NFL start on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints. Coming into this game, Ridder has not attempted a pass in the NFL?

Should you add Ridder to your fantasy roster? And is he worth starting this week against the Saints?

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Tom Brady in Week 2 despite his struggles against the Saints?"}" data-sheets-userformat="{"2":4801,"3":{"1":0},"9":0,"10":2,"12":0,"15":"Arial"}">Desmond Ridder's Background

Ridder played four seasons for the University of Cincinnati, but it was his senior season that really put him on the NFL radar. He led the Bearcats to the college football playoffs, throwing for 3,334 yards and 30 touchdowns. He was picked off eight times and completed 64.9% of his passes.

Ridder also made some moves with his legs, rushing for 355 yards and six touchdowns last season. In total, he had 28 rushing touchdowns in college.

The Falcons drafted Ridder in the third round, and he's sat behind Marcus Mariota all season. But he's finally going to get his chance on Sunday to show what he can do in the NFL.

Should I Start Desmond Ridder In Week 15 Fantasy Football?

While there's definitely upside with Ridder, it's going to be tough for fantasy managers to trust him this week, especially considering it's the first week of the fantasy playoffs for most leagues.

Ridder is worth adding in all two-quarterback leagues and in one-quarterback leagues if you're someone who is streaming QBs right now because of the recent spate of injuries at the position.

But the Falcons have thrown the second-fewest passes in the NFL this season, and while you can reasonably expect them to design more pass plays for Ridder than they did for Marcus Mariota, it's hard to really picture this Falcons offense changing in some radical way that would make Ridder a viable play in one-QB leagues.

Still, it's smart to get him on the roster and take a wait-and-see approach, especially if your league starts multiple QBs. Starters don't show up on the waiver wire every day. You just would hopefully have a more reliable option for Week 15, because starting someone with zero NFL experience in the fantasy first round is a bit too risky.

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