Former Arizona Cardinals QB Signs With Bengals

Former Arizona Cardinals' QB Desmond Ridder is signing a deal with the Cincinnati Bengals, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reports Sunday.

Ridder, 25, spent a few brief months with the Cardinals ahead of the 2024 season before moving on for a brief stint with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Former Arizona Cardinals QB Signs Deal With Bengals

Ridder was brought in to provide some starting experience to the Cardinals' QB room in 2024. Arizona traded WR Rondale Moore in a one-for-one deal.

Moore had struggled to find consistent production with Arizona, and in the post-Josh Dobbs era, GM Monti Ossenfort attempted to find an upgrade in the QB room to back up Kyler Murray.

Unfortunately, Ridder struggled in the 2024 preseason. He never really performed at a high enough level over incumbent backup Clayton Tune to win the QB2 job away.

As a result, Ridder was subsequently released in late August, just months after Arizona made the deal for him in late August.

Ridder went on to sign with Las Vegas, playing in six games and making one start for the Raiders in 2024. He threw for 458 total yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

He started 17 games with the Atlanta Falcons, the team that drafted him in the third round back in 2022, and went 8-9 as a starter, throwing 14 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

Ridder is still young, but will likely still need to compete for the backup role with the Bengals. Star QB Joe Burrow, if he remains healthy, will be the starter without question.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, did find what would appear to be a serious upgrade at backup QB this offseason.

While Tune remains on the roster for the time being, Arizona signed veteran backup Jacoby Brissett to a two-year, $12.5 million deal.

Brissett is a nine-year NFL veteran with plenty of starting experience. While he's no star, he's had some success, and is able to provide quality-enough play to avoid disaster in case of an injury to Kyler Murray.

Brissett has started 53 games, and gone just 19-34, but has generally been a victim of some exceptionally poor supporting casts. He's thrown for 11,400 yards, 53 touchdowns and 24 interceptions over his career.

Of course, the real question is Murray himself. Murray was healthy for all of 2024, but didn't produce much in terms of volume. In year three of the new regime, Murray has a chance to assert himself as a top QB, or slide into a more comfortable game manager role.

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