Desmond Ridder Reportedly Signs Bengals Contract After Raiders, Falcons Stints

Desmond Ridder is reportedly heading back to the city of Cincinnati.

The former UC Bearcats quarterback agreed to a deal with the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. Ridder, who previously played with the Atlanta Falcons and Las Vegas Raiders, will provide further depth behind Joe Burrow.

Ridder will be a familiar name for many football fans in Cincinnati, as he was the American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons for the Bearcats in 2020 and 2021.

He also led Cincinnati to the College Football Playoff during the 2021 season as it became the first non-Power Five school to reach the CFP.

The Falcons saw enough during that collegiate career to select him with a third-round pick in the 2022 NFL draft. He ended up starting two games as a rookie after Atlanta decided to bench Marcus Mariota and went 2-2 in those contests.

Ridder entered the 2023 campaign as the starter, although he lost his job during the season and then regained it back when Taylor Heinicke struggled. In all, Ridder went 6-7 as a starter and completed 64.2 percent of his passes for 2,836 yards, 12 touchdowns and 12 interceptions during his second year in the league.

From there, he spent time on the Arizona Cardinals' practice squad in 2024 before joining the Raiders after Aidan O'Connell's injury. Ridder appeared in six games with one start last year and completed 61.2 percent of his passes for 458 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Perhaps Ridder will one day have an opportunity to prove himself as a surefire starter again in the NFL down the line, but that certainly won't be his role on the Bengals. After all, Burrow is on the short list of the most elite signal-callers in the league and figures to once again be an MVP candidate during the 2025 season.

Rather than being in the starter mix like he was at times in Atlanta and Las Vegas, Ridder will instead likely compete for the primary backup role with Jake Browning. 

Browning started seven games for the Bengals in 2023 after Burrow suffered an injury but did not throw a single pass in a regular-season contest last year.