As the Steelers’ work on this year’s quarterback draft class continues, the team is turning its attention to Cincinnati alum Desmond Ridder. Pittsburgh is hosting him for one of their top-30 visits today, as noted by Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer (Twitter link). 
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This marks the beginning of a busy stretch for Ridder; he is scheduled to meet with the Panthers and Seahawks next week, as first reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter). Pittsburgh has long been touted as one of the teams most in need of a new franchise signal-caller, despite the signing of Mitch Trubisky. The team had a large presence at Ridder’s (and every other top QB’s) pro day.
The redshirt senior took Cincinnati to unprecedented heights during his time there. He helped the Bearcats become the first Group of 5 school to appear in the College Football Playoff, ultimately losing in the national semifinal. His career record of 44-6 ranks first in program history, and places him among the winningest college QBs of all time. He threw 87 touchdowns in four seasons, completing 62.1% of his passes.
Ridder has generally been ranked at least one tier below Malik Willis and Kenny Pickett in the build-up to this month’s draft. His stock may be on the rise, however, as ESPN’s Matt Miller tweets that Ridder has a chance to be a top-20 pick. Depending on how the rest of the board falls, that could place him directly into Pittsburgh’s range, since the Steelers hold the 20th selection.
Ridder isn’t the only QB Pittsburgh is meting with, not surprisingly. Rapoport adds (on Twitter) that UNC’s Sam Howell will visit on Friday. The latter is seen as a similarly-ranked prospect, and seems to have drawn attention from the Commanders and Saints among other teams. Whether the Steelers end up selecting either option or not, they will clearly have done their due diligence on the position.
I don’t see him as a 1st round pick. Honestly, I don’t know that any of the quarterbacks in this draft have 1st round talent.
Yeah, kind of changed my mind after watching workouts these past couple weeks. Given that Tuitt is still a question mark, as is Alualu….that they need wideouts and that they apparently won’t sign Tyrann Mathieu, I hope they go another direction to address needs
Offensive line and cornerback are other areas of need
I’d be pretty sad if they don’t go D-line in round 1
Agreed. select the best OT instead.
If you haven’t been paying attention, Steelers have been using draft picks on o-line .
very rarely can a guy step right in and make a difference year 1..
gotta give Chuks and Moore time to develope. towards the end of the season, pressure off the edge was less of an issue.
steelers needed help at guard and center and creating running lanes up the middle.
they signed 2 guard/center options in the off-season and committed longterm to Chuks
As a UC/Bengals fan this is my nightmare scenario
wait until they grip him round 2..
Best thing about Ridder to Steelers is that he won’t be whoring around Pittsburgh bars like Ben did for his first 8 years in town.
Drafting a QB is never about whether he deserves to be a 1st round pick. It’s always been about positioning so if a team can’t trade down and their next pick they have no chance of getting the player, they will overdraft them in the 1st round.
Trade down with Chiefs. Maybe pick 20 for pick 30 and 50? is that too much?
Just answered my own question Draft Net says
#20 =850 poins
#84 =170 points
Chiefs #30 =620 points
Chiefs #50 =400 points
Both equal 1020 points
Steelers would then have picks 30,50, &52. Three instant contributors hopefully.
Mike Tomlin and staff are just taking advantage to fill out a player profile on Ridder. That way when some team that has a wonderful history of developing QB’s drafts him they have a baseline in three years to sign him.