NFL Draft: Desmond Ridder officially on the first round map

The 2022 NFL Draft is very intriguing at the quarterback position. Cincinnati’s Desmond Ridder is firmly on the first-round radar after week one.

At this point, it’s difficult to say that the 2022 NFL Draft is “loaded” at the quarterback position. There are certainly a lot of players worth monitoring across the country, many that have gotten a lot of hype over the course of the last nine months.

One of the players deserving of some hype, certainly after his week one performance to open the 2021 college football season, is Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder.

Ridder was already a player to watch coming into this season after the work he did for Cincinnati in 2020, completing 66.2 percent of his passes with 19 touchdowns and six interceptions in just 10 games while adding 592 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns.

Averaging three total touchdowns per game a season ago, expectations were understandably high for Ridder entering his senior season, and he certainly has plenty to prove to NFL scouts when it comes to his 2022 NFL Draft stock.

Although Miami (OH) is not going to be competing for the college football playoff anytime soon, Ridder undoubtedly passed the first test of the season with flying colors.

It’s not great practice to anoint guys as first-round prospects after just one game, but Ridder completed 20-of-25 passes in this game (80 percent) for 295 yards, four touchdowns, an interception, and a rushing touchdown with 31 rushing yards.

He showed off his full arsenal of skills in this game, starting with his very first throw of the season, an absolute bomb for a touchdown that traveled over 50 yards in the air after Ridder slid to avoid getting hit.

His natural arm talent is impressive, but Ridder’s outstanding speed is really going to set him apart and he made a play as a runner that will have NFL teams salivating at the chance to get him.

On fourth-and-one, Ridder took a zone read off the left tackle and into the end zone for a score.

Further, Ridder was the highest-rated passer under pressure in week one according to Pro Football Focus.

Every year, at least recently, it seems like some quarterback comes out of nowhere to earn first-round NFL Draft status. And in recent years, that first-round status has been high first-round status.

In 2021, it was Zach Wilson at BYU.

In 2020, it was Joe Burrow at LSU.

In 2019, it was Kyler Murray at Oklahoma.

In 2018, it was Baker Mayfield at Oklahoma.

You get the idea.

Desmond Ridder would definitely not be coming from a place of obscurity like some of those other players. He was already one of college football’s “star” players coming into this season, but there’s obviously a reason why he didn’t leave school after his junior year.

And it wasn’t just unfinished business at Cincinnati.

It may not require more performances exactly like this one, though that certainly wouldn’t hurt, but Desmond Ridder has done a lot up to this point and there is a good chance NFL teams already highly value his experience and what has happened with the Cincinnati program in the time he’s been the starting quarterback.

His combination of arm talent and pure speed at quarterback along with experience could all add up to first-round NFL Draft status when all is said and done.