Getty Mitchell Trubisky warming up for the Buffalo Bills.
Mitchell Trubisky has been suggested as a possible replacement for Matt Ryan in 2022, but not everybody who reports on the Atlanta Falcons believes Trubisky is bound for the NFC South this offseason.
ESPN’s Falcons reporter Michael Rothstein recently discussed the Trubisky rumors with Heavy’s Stephanie Otey. Rothstein’s response was pretty emphatic: “I have not heard the rumors about Mitch Trubisky, and, I mean, as a backup, sure. I don’t think that that makes sense right now as a starter.”
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Watch and listen to the full Trubisky portion of the interview here:
Would the Falcons Miss a Trick by Ignoring Trubisky?
Rothstein isn’t convinced, but not everybody at ESPN shares his view that Trubisky wouldn’t be a good fit in Atlanta. Earlier in December, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler named the former first-round draft bust of the Chicago Bears as a cheap option to replace 36-year-old Ryan.
Significantly, Fowler cited Falcons’ offensive coordinator Dave Ragone’s “intimate knowledge of Trubisky from his days on Chicago’s staff.” As the player’s quarterbacks coach, Ragone helped guide Trubisky to the Pro Bowl in 2018, one of the few bright spots of the signal-caller’s career with the Bears.
Trubisky was eventually dumped when the Bears passed on his fifth-year option in 2020. It was an ignominious end for the player drafted second overall in 2017, but the Falcons could still revive Trubisky’s career.
He’d work as a more multi-dimensional threat than Ryan, who remains a classic, but static pocket-based passer. By contrast, Trubisky is a talented runner, a skill Ragone helped unlock in Chicago.
Mobility is one reason why Trubisky has fit so well as Josh Allen’s backup with the Buffalo Bills. The Bills run an offense based on turning a dual-threat quarterback loose. Trubisky has spent nearly two seasons studying the scheme of offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, who keeps many designed QB runs in the playbook.
Adding that dimension to their own scheme would make the Falcons more unpredictable offensively. A quarterback able to beat defenses with his legs, would also increase the potency of the Atlanta offense, namely a running game led by Cordarrelle Patterson.
Do the Falcons Need a Gadget QB?
Maybe Trubisky wouldn’t fit as an every-down starter with the Falcons, but that doesn’t mean Ragone and head coach Arthur Smith couldn’t find creative ways to still get him involved. He might work best as a gadget-style quarterback able to add a few new looks to the offense.
It’s something the Falcons have experimented with this season, according to Rothstein. He mentioned how backup Feleipe Franks has been used.
Rothstein said: “They seem to have a plan for Feleipe Franks at this point because they’ve used him a little bit on special teams. They were messing around with him a little bit as like a tight end, Taysom Hill-type earlier in the season.”
Franks, an undrafted free agent out of Arkansas last offseason, has been moving up the depth chart, per Rothstein:
Josh Rosen also inactive for Atlanta. Feleipe Franks is the backup QB for the Falcons.
Based on the last two weeks, certainly feels like the undrafted rookie has claimed the No. 2 QB spot.
While Franks has the raw skills to be a hybrid-style weapon for the Falcons, Trubisky possesses many of the same traits. The difference is the latter is a more proven commodity and has a deeper history with Ragone.
It also helps that Smith hasn’t been afraid to put different people in the pocket this season. He’s used Patterson out of wildcat looks, albeit not always successfully.
Putting in a natural quarterback who can run this type of offense would improve the Falcons’ efficiency in the red zone. That issue surfaced in an ugly way during Week 15’s 31-13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, when Smith was left to bemoan missed opportunities, per Tori McElhaney of the team’s official site:
Arthur Smith said the difference in the game was the goal to go numbers, 0-for-3, that and situation football.
Putting a more unpredictable quarterback into the offense in these situations would surely fix the problem.