The Las Vegas Raiders were a mess at quarterback in 2024. Hindsight is always 20/20, but it seems like most of Raider Nation knew in their hearts that a tandem of Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell was not going to get the job done in the AFC West.
After a brutal preseason quarterback battle, Minshew took the reins for the team but was benched after Week 5. An injury to O'Connell saw Minshew return to the lineup mid-year, but he suffered a season-ending injury in Week 12, which handed the keys back to O'Connell.
This back-and-forth was torture for the fan base, but they got a brief reprieve from it in Week 15 when Desmond Ridder started on Monday Night Football against his former team, the Atlanta Falcons. Ridder was signed off the Arizona Cardinals' practice squad before Week 8 as a project for the team.
Bengals sign former Raiders QB project Desmond Ridder
However, Ridder performed poorly for the Raiders, leading the team to just nine points in his lone start and throwing only one touchdown compared to two interceptions. All told, he threw two touchdowns and two interceptions in 2024 while fumbling three times and taking 10 sacks.
It quickly became clear that Ridder was not the answer in Las Vegas, and eventually, that he may not even be a suitable backup in the NFL. The Cincinnati Bengals think differently, as they signed Ridder to a contract on Sunday just ahead of training camp.
The Bengals obviously have Joe Burrow under center, who is one of the best signal-callers in the league. However, they also have Jake Browning on their roster, who is one of the best backups in the NFL. He led Cincinnati to a 4-3 record in Burrow's absence in 2023.
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Thus, the addition of Ridder makes little sense, considering there is not much upside for him to be anything more than an emergency quarterback or a practice squad player. This is an unfortunate fall from grace for Ridder, who was once a third-round pick and the Week 1 starter in Atlanta.
Ridder has a lot of the physical tools needed to be a good NFL quarterback. At 6-foot-3 and 207 pounds, he is a solid athlete who can run better than the average signal-caller in the league. However, something has held him back thus far, and no coaching staff has been able to put their finger on it.
It should not take long for the Bengals to learn what the Raiders did, which is that Ridder is no more than an end-of-roster player. Perhaps head coach Zay Taylor will be able to help him turn a corner in his career, but it's hard to imagine his passing up Burrow or Browning on the depth chart.