Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is really piling up the frequent flyer miles. On Wednesday, Tomlin was at the Ole Miss pro day to get a closer look at quarterback Matt Corral. And less than 24 hours later, Tomlin has made his way to Cincinnati to have dinner with quarterback Desmond Ridder ahead of the Cincinnati pro day on Thursday.
Ridder is among a strong group of four quarterbacks in the 2022 NFL draft Pittsburgh has shown big-time interest in. Ridder, like Malik Willis, Kenny Pickett and Corral are all guys with very lively arms and excellent mobility. Ridder had stood out this past season similar to Pickett in terms of the level of improvement in their overall game.
The Steelers signed free-agent Mitch Trubisky already this offseason but it hasn’t stopped them from working with this quarterback class. Pittsburgh currently has the No. 20 overall pick in the first round and with all the veteran quarterbacks finding new teams this offseason it is really impossible to predict what teams ahead of Pittsburgh will do.
The best-case scenario as far as Ridder goes would be if he lasted until the Steelers second-round pick. But after running the fastest QB 40 at the combine, you have to think some team is going to take a shot on him earlier and hope he can continue to grow as a passer. The nice thing about this situation for all these quarterbacks and the Steelers is none would be under any pressure to start right away.
Great seeing @CoachTomlin & @desmondridder again. I wanna thank all the NFL coaches and players dining at our Cincinnati restaurants. Have a great day tomorrow. BTW I’m a Bengals fan and Mike is a terrific guy. They are not mutually exclusive. pic.twitter.com/LZVCkqILj1
— Jeff Ruby (@TheRealJeffRuby) March 24, 2022
