2022 NFL Draft: Desmond Ridder a legit dual-threat at QB

Weaknesses

He has a slightly thin frame at 215 pounds and would benefit from adding 15 pounds of muscle to be similar in size to the aforementioned Colin Kaepernick, who played at 229 pounds.

Ridder isn’t consistently accurate with the football, and this is certainly his biggest knock. In the 2021 Peach Bowl against Georgia, he threw high to his receivers more than once and missed backs coming out of the backfield on arrow routes (which are pretty basic throws) multiple times.

His mechanics aren’t great, which can lead to the inaccuracy we discussed above. He has a tendency to sling the ball sidearm and his feet can get out of alignment which takes his throws offline.

Ridder hasn’t been frequently asked to go through multiple reads, so he often doesn’t. He either looks for his first read, his check-down receiver or looks to run.

In 2019 he injured his throwing shoulder and missed a big game against Memphis that his team lost.

He needs to improve his pocket presence, as he can bail too quickly out of a clean pocket as well as sit in the pocket too long and get swallowed up by the rush.

While his toughness is commendable, it borders on the reckless. Ridder would do well to slide more and run out of bounds to avoid taking so many big shots.