NFL Draft Rumors: Cincinnati QB Desmond Ridder 'Made a Positive Impression on Scouts'

Desmond Ridder might be moving up the draft boards of some NFL teams. 

Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated reported on Monday that Ridder "made a positive impression on scouts" through last week's pro days among the draft-eligible quarterbacks. 

He added he had "one coach tell me that if he had the receivers who were on display the day before at Ohio State, it would've really been a show."

Ridder's draft stock seems to be all over the place. The B/R Scouting Department, has him rated him as the No. 16 overall prospect in the 2022 NFL draft on its latest big board. On the other hand, NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah didn't have Ridder on his list of the top 50 players for this year's draft.

Jeremiah did have quarterbacks Kenny Pickett (No. 28), Malik Willis (No. 32), Matt Corral (No. 34) and Sam Howell (No. 47), however. 

And the aggregate grades from ESPN's draft analysts (Mel Kiper Jr., Todd McShay, Matt Miller and Jordan Reid) had Ridder ranked 31st among this year's prospects. He's third among quarterbacks, behind Willis (21) and Pickett (22). 

Yahoo Sports' Eric Edholm called Ridder an "experienced, athletic dual-threat passer who doesn't possess many special traits but has a much higher floor than many believe" in his scouting report. NFL.com's Lance Zierlein compared him to Alex Smith and described him as a "four-year starter and four-year winner whose hard work at his craft altered his standing from good college quarterback to early-round draft pick."

"He's a humble leader who leads by example and football is important to him," an AFC area scout told Zierlein. "You will never have to worry about (whether he's) working on his game to get better."

Ridder doesn't have elite arm strength or accuracy and has a somewhat slow throwing release, which are the main concerns with his game. He's a good athlete who can escape the pocket, but he isn't a dynamic threat in the mold of a Lamar Jackson or Kyler Murray in that regard. 

But in what appears to be a fairly weak quarterback class, he still has a chance to be a first-round pick, and he'll certainly be off the board by the third day of the draft. Quarterbacks always go early, and Ridder at the very least appears to have the intangibles that NFL teams like.