The 2022 NFL Draft takes place April 28-30 this year, emanating LIVE from Las Vegas, Nevada. As it stands, the Tennessee Titans have one first round draft pick. General manager Jon Robinson and head coach Mike Vrabel currently hold the 26th overall selection. Over the next few months, your boy “Big Natural” Stoney Keeley will be taking a look at some of the prospects who are either rumored to be tied to or who make sense for the Titans. Today, we’re lookin’ at Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder.
Hell yeah – let’s talk about the Titans taking a quarterback in the first round some more. And, no, we’re not talking about Kenny Pickett, Malik Willis, or Matt Corral. Maybe in another post. Call me crazy, but I don’t think any of those three will be there at #26, meaning the Titans could have their pick of the Ridder/Sam Howell/Carson Strong litter. While the Titans have met with Strong (also “while I have an irrational draft evaluation of Strong”), and Howell just might be the dark horse of the entire class, Ridder seems like the most “Titans guy” out of the bunch. Don’t ask me what that means ’cause I can’t explain it. It’s just one of those things that when you see it, you see it.
It’s hard to ignore the pedigree that the Cincinnati Bearcats developed with Ridder at quarterback. Ridder helped to guide the program to 44 wins and just six losses during his tenure as the Bearcats signal caller. More impressive was the fact that Cincinnati made it to the College Football Playoff in 2021 – the first ‘Group of Five’ program to do so. Ridder was the two-time AAC Offensive Player of the Year (2020, 2021), and earned first team All-AAC honors in the process. As we’ve seen the Titans value in the past, Ridder has the production to go with it. He finished the 2021 campaign with 3,334 passing yards, 30 passing touchdowns, and six rushing touchdowns.
As for his skill set, well – he’s a tough, competitive guy who is underrated as a dual-threat guy. He has shown flashes of some tremendous accuracy, and has the arm talent to throw the ball well. It just hasn’t been consistent, but Ridder is capable of throwing some real dimes. He played with some pro concepts at Cincinnati and demonstrated a firm command of that offense. Re-read the last few sentences and think about who it reminds you of, Titans fans…yeah, it’s easy to see why so many scouts and analysts are comparing Ridder to Ryan Tannehill. A lot of folks are calling Ridder “NFL ready,” though I would qualify that as “NFL ready from the neck up.”
He really just misses too many throws, and that’s what my evaluation boils down to. If we saw more consistently on-point accuracy, Ridder might even be the top quarterback in this draft class. But, I saw too many times against elite defensive competition (Alabama, Notre Dame) that he got rattled, got happy feet, and missed his mark wildly. I’m also docking points because he used quarterback wins as a stat when pitching teams at the combine (linked in the ‘Further Reading‘ section of this post), and we all know quarterback wins aren’t a real stat. I don’t like that we’re using the word ‘accomplished’ in our assessments of Ridder, either. How in the hell do you project ‘accomplishment’ to the NFL? It sounds like I’m dissing Ridder, but I really do like him as a developmental prospect because NFL coaches can iron out his footwork and technique.
I don’t expect the Titans to address the quarterback position in the first round. Really, I don’t even expect them to address the position at all in the draft. Look at how they’ve handled it before under Robinson (Luke Falk…Cole McDonald, anyone?). But, if you’re going to have any shot at getting a guy that could develop into the future of the franchise, you have to take your swing with that 26th overall pick. If they think Ridder can be that guy, and they’re willing to iron out some of the things that cause the inaccurate passes, and they have faith in their coaching staff to do it, then grab him. With a deep roster, and a deep class of wide receivers, tight ends, and offensive linemen, they’d at least be afforded the luxury of taking a project quarterback to take the reins from Tannehill in a couple of seasons. I just don’t see Ridder as that guy. While some have called him this draft’s Dak Prescott, I’d still be more excited about drafting Howell or Strong. Nonetheless, Ridder is a gamer.
Further Reading: Cincinnati’s Desmond Ridder says he’s the most ready quarterback in NFL draft
2022 TITANS FIRST ROUND OPTIONS
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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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