Where does Desmond Ridder rank amongst NFL QBs after 11 career starts?

Desmond Ridder has been in the NFL for two seasons, and he has 11 career starts to his name after taking over for an injured(?) Marcus Mariota in Week 15 of last year. Quarterback comparisons can commence as we’ve seen who Ridder is at this point. There’s obviously room for gradual improvement over time, but we’ve clearly seen that Ridder is unlikely to develop into a top-flight NFL quarterback anytime soon. With that sentiment in mind, let’s see where Ridder ranks amongst his NFL peers. We’ll begin by taking a look at his career statistics so far through 11 NFL starts.

By the numbers

The Falcons QB has a 6-5 win-loss record with 2,338 passing yards & 8 passing TDs. Other statistics, such as his completion percentage (64.7) & yards per attempt (6.8), seem to suggest that Ridder has the tools to make it as a starting NFL quarterback. He also leads the NFL in game-winning drives this season with four, again perhaps suggesting that the team should give him more time before reaching a decision.

Unfortunately for him, his 13 turnovers (6 INTs & 7 fumbles) have been his undoing. Ridder’s also been sacked 29 times in his career, and he’s at fault for some of those. There are other quarterbacks like him, but the league’s elite QBs don’t get sacked or turn the ball over in key moments like Ridder has done thus far in his NFL career.

Drawing comparisons

For the purpose of this exercise, I will be using Stathead Football’s Versus Finder Tool in order to compare Desmond Ridder to several of his fellow NFL QB peers. Daniel Jones, Mac Jones, and Kenny Pickett are the first names that come to mind.

Being compared to Daniel Jones is not necessarily a good thing, even though he got paid handsomely by the Giants to be their franchise quarterback this past offseason. His 22-35-1 career record leaves much to be desired, as does his 64 career turnovers. Surprisingly, Ridder bests Jones in several categories such as completion percentage (64.7 to 64.4), yards per attempt (6.8 to 6.6), and passing yards per game (213 to 212). Comparing Desmond Ridder to Daniel Jones might be an apt comparison after all.

Let’s talk about how Ridder compares to another Jones in Mac Jones of the Patriots. Mac Jones was great his rookie year, but he has since struggled to find NFL success. Jones’ QB rating (87.6) and yards per attempt (6.9) metrics are similar to Ridder’s 84.9 QBR and 6.8 YPA statistics through their young careers in the league thus far. Mac has also dealt with his share of bad coaching in his career, notably calling out his ex-offensive coordinator in frustration during a Patriots loss to the Bills last year.

Kenny Pickett and Desmond Ridder were selected in the same 2022 NFL draft class. Pickett and Ridder are actually similar in many ways, most notably so in their career touchdown passes (12 to 8), rushing TDs (4 to 3), and passing yards (3,661 to 2,338). Ridder actually has the edge in terms of yards per attempt (6.8 to 6.4), completion percentage (64.7 to 62.3), passing yards per game (212.5), and QBR (84.9 to 78.2). These two guys are probably the most comparable set of NFL QBs on the planet.

Well, at least he’s better than…

Justin Fields, Zach Wilson, Joshua Dobbs, Gardner Minshew; that’s it, that’s the list. Fields is obviously superior as a rusher, but all of his passing statistics are terrible. Wilson is just a less accurate, equally turnover-prone version of Desmond Ridder. Dobbs has the exact same amount of TDs (8) and INTs (6) as Ridder in his 15 starts. Finally, Minshew’s 9-18 record as a starter makes me believe that he’s a backup QB.

The final verdict

Desmond Ridder, as currently characterized, is a bottom-five NFL starting QB. Ridder’s better than all of the league’s backup quarterbacks; however, he’s barely comparable to two bottom-tier NFL starters in the Jones boys (Daniel and Mac). Could Ridder limit his turnovers and improve his play down the line? Absolutely. That said, the comparison ceiling for him is probably someone like Jared Goff, and realistically he seems likely to end up as someone comparable to Ryan Tannehill. Arthur Smith would be okay if Ridder met that comparison, but how would you feel?