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Falcons ‘have a pretty good idea’ on Marcus Mariota’s future


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Desmond Ridder has shown enough to take the reins in 2023 for a full-season audition, which means Marcus Mariota is expendable. I fully expect the Falcons to part ways with him this offseason; I’ve stated before that it’s something I think has already been decided internally. The writing is on the wall.
 

Outside of a turbulent performance through 13 games that doesn’t warrant his 2023 salary, the veteran quarterback was a total distraction when the Falcons decided to turn to the rookie Ridder.Mariota seemingly stepped away from the team after learning about his demotion. A phantom injury ended his season despite never appearing on any injury report. By all accounts, Mariota took his ball and went home.

According to reports, the Falcons informed Mariota of the change on Thursday morning; by Friday, the team learned the veteran planned to step away. Arthur Smith went even further to say the injury wasn’t an issue all season and that it was Mariota’s prerogative. Again, bad news for Mariota’s future.

The two sides are headed for an inevitable divorce. The salary cap ramifications of parting ways with Mariota all but guarantee the Falcons will cut him. The team can save a whopping $12 million by releasing him while only incurring a $2.5 million dead cap figure. It’s almost impossible to see the Falcons keeping him on the roster in 2023.

Coming into the season, Mariota’s calling card was his veteran leadership. Now, he’s practically useless in that capacity after leaving the team and Ridder high and dry. The plan was always for Mariota to be a stopgap option in Atlanta with a chance to be a two-year starter if he played well enough, but he didn’t.

Even though I believe the team has already internally decided to move on from Mariota, Arthur Smith is still leaving the door cracked. In response to a question about Marcus Mariota’s future, Smith said they’re close to a decision:

“We have a pretty good idea. That’ll all play out,” Smith said. “We will make those moves before or right after the league year.”

Even if he took a drastic pay cut I don’t see how they would be able to bring him back with how he left the team. I think we save that 12 million and sign someone cheaper and more reliable.
 

 

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Yep. But cool your jets until it’s finalized because Mariota was the MAN for 3(three) {actually 3} starts after the butt pass episode. That tells me all I need to know, his performance was satisfactory in his boss’s eyes. 
Mariota may suck but he’s not gone until Terry or Art says he’s gone. 

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17 minutes ago, Killing Floor said:

Yep. But cool your jets until it’s finalized because Mariota was the MAN for 3(three) {actually 3} starts after the butt pass episode. That tells me all I need to know, his performance was satisfactory in his boss’s eyes. 
Mariota may suck but he’s not gone until Terry or Art says he’s gone. 

Art seemed pretty pissed talking about how Mariota’s injury wasn’t an issue until he got benched. I think Marcus is outta here. Smith and Fontenot strike me as people that would likely fire someone over an character issue before they’d cut them over performance. Mariota essentially quit on the team.. I could be wrong but I don’t believe they’ll forgive that.

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12 minutes ago, Diesel_Bird said:

The guy quit. He made an easy decision even easier 

Is his defense, this was always going to be a 1yr contract. The only way it wasn't was if he suddenly became much better than he ever had been before.

Most understood when we signed him that we were releasing him after one season

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1 hour ago, Killing Floor said:

Yep. But cool your jets until it’s finalized because Mariota was the MAN for 3(three) {actually 3} starts after the butt pass episode. That tells me all I need to know, his performance was satisfactory in his boss’s eyes. 
Mariota may suck but he’s not gone until Terry or Art says he’s gone. 

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30 minutes ago, hjerry said:

Is his defense, this was always going to be a 1yr contract. The only way it wasn't was if he suddenly became much better than he ever had been before.

Most understood when we signed him that we were releasing him after one season

Revisionist history.

Many on here and even in the media were excited about his brief flashes in Vegas and predicted career revival.

I personally thought he had a good chance to be our starter until we drafted one in the first round.

It wasn't until we actually saw him play that the reality check came.

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