Commanders Mock Draft: Washington nabs quarterback after Pro Day visit

One of the most intriguing prospects at the quarterback positon in the 2022 NFL Draft class has to be Cincinnati’s Desmond Ridder. He has shown the ability to shred D-1 defenses time and time again, yet mechanically and from a sheer improvement level on a year-to-year basis, he leaves some good meat on the bone.

With that said, the Washington Commanders should select Ridder if he’s there at 47. Not only has Ron Rivera mentioned numerous times that he’s comfortable adding and potentially starting a rookie QB, but that won’t be the a situation they’d be expecting to be in after adding Carson Wentz.

Desmond Ridder would step in right away as Washington’s backup QB, likely red-shirting his rookie season with Carson Wentz and maybe Taylor Heinicke in front of him. It’ll be a bit of a process for Ridder, as he needs to fine-tune his mechanics a good bit and has some issues with processing and progressing through his reads at the second level, but make no mistake about it, the tools and the fit is there.

Washington’s Air Coryell offense thrives on pushing the ball down the field at the second and third levels of the passing game. For Ridder, he was near-flawless last season on throws of 20+ yards, as he didn’t commit a single turnover-worthy play on over 70 attempts last season.

In addition, Ridder threw seven touchdowns on throws between 10-19 yards, but there is some much needed room for improvement as an intermediate pass-thrower. Nonetheless, Ridder’s arm talent is there, but his athletic ability, long-speed and pop with the ball in his hands as a runner is what will excite Scott Turner and Washington’s offensive coaches.

Ridder is as legit as they come in this class as a dual-athlete QB, and with the NFL trending towards utilizing athletic tools and traits in their signal-callers more than ever, Ridder checks all of those boxes.