New Titans quarterback Cam Ward knows what side his bread is buttered on. He was talking up No. 1 wideout Calvin Ridley the other day, saying that Ridley is "one of the top 5 wide receivers in the NFL." He might be overstating things a little.
Setting aside the whole missing a year for gambling thing, Ridley has been more good than great. Back in 2020 he had his best season, catching 90 passes for 1,374 yards and 9 touchdowns -- the No. 5 wide receiver in PPR leagues. Maybe Ward had him on his fantasy team that year. But things generally deteriorated after that.
The next season, Ridley played in only five games, stepping away for personal/mental health reasons. The year after that, he was suspended. The last two years he's been a No. 1 wideout for the Jaguars and Titans, but without reaching the heights of that 2020 season.
Ridley was a top-30 wide receiver in each of those seasons, but his game had some flaws. He dropped 6 passes each year, for a rate of close to 5 percent over those two seasons. And drops aside, he simply didn't catch enough of the passes thrown his way. Poor quarterbacking can be blamed for some of that, but working with a rookie won't necessarily dramatically change things.
Over those past two seasons, Ridley has caught under 55 percent of the passes thrown his way. That ranks 49th among the 51 wide receivers to see at least 150 targets over the past two years. The only two guys worse than him over that timeframe have either struggled with drops or played on several different teams in those two years (Amari Cooper, Diontae Johnson).
WIDE RECEIVER CATCH RATES, 2023-2024 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Tgt | Rec | Yds | TD | Ctch% |
Amon-Ra St. Brown | 305 | 234 | 2778 | 22 | 76.7 |
Adam Thielen | 199 | 151 | 1629 | 9 | 75.9 |
DeVonta Smith | 201 | 149 | 1899 | 15 | 74.1 |
Nico Collins | 208 | 148 | 2303 | 15 | 71.2 |
Ja'Marr Chase | 320 | 227 | 2924 | 24 | 70.9 |
CeeDee Lamb | 333 | 236 | 2943 | 18 | 70.9 |
Jaxon Smith-Njigba | 230 | 163 | 1758 | 10 | 70.9 |
Jayden Reed | 169 | 119 | 1650 | 14 | 70.4 |
D.J. Moore | 276 | 194 | 2330 | 14 | 70.3 |
Wan'Dale Robinson | 218 | 153 | 1224 | 4 | 70.2 |
Jaylen Waddle | 187 | 130 | 1758 | 6 | 69.5 |
Demario Douglas | 166 | 115 | 1182 | 3 | 69.3 |
Chris Godwin | 192 | 133 | 1600 | 7 | 69.3 |
Puka Nacua | 266 | 184 | 2476 | 9 | 69.2 |
Stefon Diggs | 224 | 154 | 1679 | 11 | 68.8 |
Tyler Boyd | 155 | 106 | 1057 | 2 | 68.4 |
Josh Downs | 205 | 140 | 1574 | 7 | 68.3 |
Tyreek Hill | 294 | 200 | 2758 | 19 | 68.0 |
A.J. Brown | 255 | 173 | 2535 | 14 | 67.8 |
Zay Flowers | 224 | 151 | 1917 | 9 | 67.4 |
Justin Jefferson | 254 | 171 | 2607 | 15 | 67.3 |
Jakobi Meyers | 235 | 158 | 1834 | 12 | 67.2 |
Michael Pittman Jr. | 267 | 178 | 1960 | 7 | 66.7 |
Brandon Aiyuk | 152 | 100 | 1716 | 7 | 65.8 |
Keenan Allen | 271 | 178 | 1987 | 14 | 65.7 |
Chris Olave | 182 | 119 | 1523 | 6 | 65.4 |
Tyler Lockett | 196 | 128 | 1494 | 7 | 65.3 |
Deebo Samuel | 170 | 111 | 1562 | 10 | 65.3 |
Terry McLaurin | 249 | 161 | 2098 | 17 | 64.7 |
Cooper Kupp | 195 | 126 | 1447 | 11 | 64.6 |
Jordan Addison | 207 | 133 | 1786 | 19 | 64.3 |
Malik Nabers | 170 | 109 | 1204 | 7 | 64.1 |
Drake London | 268 | 169 | 2176 | 11 | 63.1 |
Tank Dell | 156 | 98 | 1376 | 10 | 62.8 |
Romeo Doubs | 168 | 105 | 1275 | 12 | 62.5 |
Courtland Sutton | 225 | 140 | 1853 | 18 | 62.2 |
Mike Evans | 246 | 153 | 2259 | 24 | 62.2 |
Tee Higgins | 185 | 115 | 1567 | 15 | 62.2 |
Jerry Jeudy | 232 | 144 | 1987 | 6 | 62.1 |
Garrett Wilson | 322 | 196 | 2146 | 10 | 60.9 |
DeAndre Hopkins | 217 | 131 | 1667 | 12 | 60.4 |
Davante Adams | 316 | 188 | 2207 | 16 | 59.5 |
Darius Slayton | 150 | 89 | 1343 | 6 | 59.3 |
Quentin Johnston | 158 | 93 | 1142 | 10 | 58.9 |
George Pickens | 209 | 122 | 2040 | 8 | 58.4 |
Elijah Moore | 206 | 120 | 1178 | 3 | 58.3 |
D.K. Metcalf | 227 | 132 | 2106 | 13 | 58.1 |
Darnell Mooney | 167 | 95 | 1406 | 6 | 56.9 |
Calvin Ridley | 256 | 140 | 2033 | 12 | 54.7 |
Diontae Johnson | 154 | 84 | 1092 | 8 | 54.5 |
Amari Cooper | 213 | 116 | 1797 | 9 | 54.5 |
Search tools at pro-football-reference.com used in compiling this table.
In Ridley's defense, he was working with Will Levis and some backup quarterbacks in Jacksonville for some of these games. All of the incompletions weren't drops or plays where he failed to get separation.
But I think we look at Ridley's body of work since his best season in Atlanta and see a good but not great wide receiver. He'll be Ward's No. 1, but it's debatable whether he'll be a reliable safety valve for the rookie. Seems more likely you're hoping for a top-25 type of wideout, at best. He'll need to fall further than that for me to consider selecting him.
--Andy Richardson