PFN’s Tony Pauline: Nearly Every Team has First-Round Grade on Desmond Ridder

Former Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder has been one of the fastest risers in the final stretch of runway towards the 2022 NFL Draft.

For those wondering how or why his stock has risen so high so rapidly, Pro Football Network’s Tony Pauline may have an answer.

“The one thing I’ve learned from talking with teams is that just about everybody has got a first-round grade on Desmond Ridder,” Pauline said on the Draft Insiders podcast. “People have been projecting him in the first round and the latest information I’ve been given backs that up.”

While the interest in Ridder appears to be swelling league-wide, there is still a chance the former Bearcats signal caller is in play for the Steelers at pick No. 20.

Pittsburgh is likely one of those teams turning their attention to Ridder with the likelihood that Kenny Pickett and Malik Willis will be gone much earlier.

If selected in the first round, Ridder would become just the second Cincinnati quarterback ever to be picked there, joining Greg Cook, who was drafted by Bengals fifth-overall in 1969.

Ridder passed for 10,239 yards and accounted for 113 total touchdowns over his four years at Cincinnati. He owns the third-most career wins for a quarterback in college football history.