There have been some stories going around about Calvin Ridley. He's been talking about the gambling suspension that wiped out his 2022 season and factored into his trade to Tennessee. He's a guy who, if you follow the rankings, will probably end up on some Index teams.
Ridley is not a player I've had much interest at all in the last couple of years. He's tended to have big games and invisible ones, and there's also the fact that the Titans are talent-thin and starting a rookie quarterback. But I'm warming to him, kind of sad that I haven't actually drafted him anywhere this season.
For one thing, Cam Ward looked better than expected in August, with a comfort level in the pocket and arm strength that made it seem the offense would be in good hands this year. Ridley is also as No. 1 as a No. 1 receiver can be; the No. 2 is 33-year-old (next month) Tyler Lockett, with journeyman Van Jefferson and a couple of rookies the other guys on the depth chart. He played 11 snaps in the preseason (with Ward) and caught all 3 passes thrown his way for 50 yards. He's ready to go.
And Ridley was remarkably good last year, especially over the final dozen weeks of the season. He had a lousy situation at quarterback (sorry, Will Levis and Mason Rudolph), but from Week 7 on he was putting up top-15 numbers. Seriously.
Ridley got off to a slow start, with just 12 catches for an average of 31 yards the first six games, with 1 TD (plus a rushing score). Levis got hurt/was benched, and the team went 1-5, well on the way to selecting Ward.
But over his last 12 games, Ridley caught 55 passes for 876 yards, with 3 touchdowns. Only a dozen wide receivers over that timeframe had more yards than he did, and nine of those guys are currently being selected in the first two rounds of every draft.
Search tools at pro-football-reference.com were used in compiling the below table, sorted by yards.
| WRS, FINAL 12 GAMES (2024) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tgt | Rec | Yds | TD |
| Ja'Marr Chase | 139 | 98 | 1215 | 12 |
| Justin Jefferson | 111 | 77 | 1083 | 6 |
| Jerry Jeudy | 112 | 71 | 1016 | 3 |
| CeeDee Lamb | 128 | 88 | 976 | 5 |
| Amon-Ra St. Brown | 99 | 84 | 974 | 9 |
| Ladd McConkey | 88 | 67 | 973 | 5 |
| A.J. Brown | 87 | 62 | 960 | 6 |
| Malik Nabers | 133 | 86 | 933 | 4 |
| Drake London | 114 | 68 | 917 | 6 |
| Tee Higgins | 109 | 73 | 911 | 10 |
| Mike Evans | 98 | 66 | 901 | 9 |
| Brian Thomas | 99 | 65 | 885 | 7 |
| Calvin Ridley | 93 | 55 | 876 | 3 |
| Jakobi Meyers | 112 | 73 | 875 | 3 |
| Jaxon Smith-Njigba | 97 | 71 | 873 | 5 |
| Courtland Sutton | 94 | 64 | 857 | 7 |
| Garrett Wilson | 97 | 68 | 812 | 5 |
| Terry McLaurin | 81 | 59 | 793 | 11 |
| Jameson Williams | 68 | 47 | 792 | 6 |
| Zay Flowers | 77 | 50 | 790 | 3 |
| George Pickens | 92 | 51 | 786 | 3 |
| Darnell Mooney | 82 | 49 | 767 | 4 |
| DeVonta Smith | 81 | 61 | 749 | 8 |
| Jordan Addison | 83 | 54 | 732 | 8 |
| D.K. Metcalf | 84 | 49 | 730 | 3 |
| Josh Downs | 93 | 61 | 699 | 4 |
| Jauan Jennings | 92 | 59 | 699 | 3 |
| Tyreek Hill | 83 | 58 | 673 | 5 |
| D.J. Moore | 98 | 71 | 672 | 3 |
| Keenan Allen | 101 | 60 | 663 | 7 |
| Khalil Shakir | 86 | 62 | 653 | 2 |
| Davante Adams | 75 | 47 | 648 | 6 |
| Tank Dell | 70 | 47 | 630 | 3 |
| Michael Pittman Jr. | 82 | 52 | 607 | 3 |
| Marvin Harrison Jr. | 81 | 45 | 606 | 4 |
| Alec Pierce | 55 | 27 | 590 | 5 |
| Quentin Johnston | 78 | 45 | 578 | 5 |
| Davante Adams | 68 | 41 | 576 | 6 |
| Jaylen Waddle | 69 | 45 | 568 | 2 |
| Rashod Bateman | 50 | 32 | 554 | 7 |
I'm not suggesting Ridley will be a top-15 (or maybe even top-20) wideout this season. But he's being selected about 30th at the position in PPR leagues, which looks to be about 5-7 spots too low. Worth selecting about 25 receivers into drafts, and someone I'll be considering then in my remaining ones.
--Andy Richardson