NFL Defensive Coach: Ahmad Gardner 'Exact Opposite' of a Diva Prospect

Gardner is projected to be the first cornerback selected on Thursday.

CINCINNATI — The Athletic's Bruce Feldman recently spoke to a group of anonymous NFL coaches and scouts about players like Desmond Ridder and Ahmad Gardner. Starting with the QB, people inside the NFL aren't quite as sold on Ridder as most might think.

"It is a concern," A quarterback coach said about Ridder's accuracy. "He is really intriguing as an athlete. I love the person. He’s super mature. Really smart. It’s almost frustrating because he checks all the boxes that almost every guy in every draft is missing one of, like he has a strong enough arm; he has played in a pro style offense. He’s just not a very natural processor and not a very natural thrower. He’s pretty robotic. He looks like a really good athlete that said, “I want to play quarterback.” He trained hard at it and got good at it in college. but the things that Desmond’s not good at are more talent-based than they are skill-based.

"(Private QB coach) Jordan Palmer has Desmond and he’s gonna say, ‘You can improve accuracy. Look at (another Palmer protege) Josh Allen.’ I think that is an oversimplification. Josh is freaky talented, and I still would not say that he’s not pinpoint accurate. That offense had a lot more gimme throws, a lot more bubbles, a lot more quick game and more RPOs, so there’s more easy throws. He also got Stefan Diggs (in 2020), who gets really open, and when teams want to double him, everybody else is one-on-one. I think it’s not a coincidence that Josh Allen was 55 percent (58.8 percent) and they get Diggs and it jumps to 65, 70 percent (69.2 percent). When people say, “Yeah, you can get better at it,” I just don’t think that you really can. It’s like speed. You can tweak it and help yourself out, but you’re either naturally accurate or you’re not."

"I think (Ridder) could be the best quarterback of this group in a year or two," A QB coach said. "I do see inconsistencies. He’s a long-levered guy; I think it’s a mechanical thing that he’s gonna have to keep working on.

"Man, I like the good," a scout said. "but I hate the bad. He’s a winner; I think he really needs to clean up his mechanics. His pro day was off target, so I went back and watched the film and you see a lot of, Dang, how you gonna miss that one?"

On the flip side, the group of coaches didn't have many questions surrounding Gardner at the top of the draft.

"Yes. Sauce has ascended," One defensive coach said. "He’s a wiry guy who can run and he’s physical. He wows you in the interview; he’s himself. He’s got confidence and he’s very smart.

I think so," Another coach said regarding him being worth a top-10 pick. "He’s got it all, and he’s coachable and a good teammate. You watched him closely in this process, in his pro day, he was so aware of his teammates, so engaged in how they were doing at pro day. You don’t always see that from those guys who are so locked in about what they’re doing. It was more, wow, he’s a guy that got every reason to be a dick, and he’s the exact opposite."

All the smokescreens clear in a few days when both players just might find homes in the first round.

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