Desmond Ridder took the world by storm at the 2022 NFL Combine. Here’s why he may have moved up on the Steelers NFL Draft big board.
The primary focus of the Pittsburgh Steelers offseason so far has revolved around the quarterback position. Since Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement, it’s no secret that this is a priority that would suddenly assert itself to the front of the line.
While Kevin Colbert wouldn’t elaborate whether or not the team would do this through the NFL Draft or free agency, many have assumed that Colbert would love nothing more than to find Ben’s successor in his final season before he steps down as the team’s GM.
Evidence would support this, as the Steelers have certainly been doing their fair share of homework at the quarterback position early this offseason. Pittsburgh’s brass met with all the top quarterback candidates at the Senior Bowl, and they did so again at the 2022 NFL Combine.
Obviously, Malik Willis has been the name at the center of Steelers draft talks so far, and it’s not hard to see why Mike Tomlin would fall in love with his tools. Willis had a strong performance during Senior Bowl week and put his tools on display again at the NFL Combine.
However, a darkhorse candidate seems to be emerging. While Willis, Kenny Pickett, and Sam Howell are names frequently linked to Pittsburgh, it could be Desmond Ridder who proves to emerge as a strong candidate moving forward.
Ridder may have elevated status with Steelers
NFL Draft experts assumed that Desmond Ridder was going to test pretty well, but I don’t anyone could have predicted that he would raise as many eyebrows as he did at the 2022 NFL Combine.
We already knew that Ridder had a very solid weigh-in at the Senior Bowl last month, and teams were very pleased with his 6’3” frame and 10” hands. However, he got people on their feet when he blazed the trail with a 4.49 40-yard dash during the Combine. That number was later adjusted to 4.52, according to NFL.com, but that is still an electrifying number.
It wasn’t just the 40-yard dash that Ridder excelled in. He put up monster explosion numbers in the vertical (36”) and broad jump (10’7”). Ridder looked like a smooth athlete on tape, but he proved to be sneaky good at the Combine.
In passing drills, Ridder laid out some terrific throws on the sideline and deep down the field. While he doesn’t have the biggest arm in the class, it’s plenty good enough for NFL standards.
Prior to the NFL Combine, I already thought that Ridder was the quarterback with the best collective blend of everything (size, production, pro-readiness, mobility, stats, record, arm, etc.). That didn’t change after the Combine but was only reinforced.
This is something the Pittsburgh Steelers will certainly consider. While I do believe that Liberty’s Malik Willis is the ultimate plan, there’s a chance that Willis could be long gone before the Steelers even get close enough to move up for him.
If this proves to be the case, I can see a very real scenario where Ridder is the fallback plan, and he now checks a lot of boxes the team will look for at the position.
NFL Combine numbers shouldn’t be used as the sole means of evaluating a football player, but Ridder certainly helped his stock in Indianapolis. I think he has to be fairly high on Pittsburgh’s radar.