Jaguars receiver Calvin Ridley was so excited to return to the NFL that he showed up in Jacksonville five weeks ago to get to work. He said Wednesday he has now knocked off the rust that comes with not having practiced or played since October 2021.
“If I’m being real and being honest, I’ve been good at football all my life,” Ridley, who was traded to the Jaguars at the trade deadline, said Wednesday. “I’m trying to be humble, [but] I’ve been pretty good at football all my life. I’ve not only been good, but I’ve worked to be good. They say ‘two years off,’ but what about the healing process that I got during that time off? What if I got faster? What if I got stronger? Obviously, I got wiser. Why can’t I be better?
“I kind of look at it like that. Obviously, two years off, I’ve got to go through the tightness, the leg tightness. I’ve got to go through all the crap. But I see myself being a good player. I do.”
The Falcons placed Ridley on the non-football illness list on Nov. 5, 2021, so he could focus on his mental health. On March 7, 2022, the league suspended Ridley for betting on NFL games during the 2021 season.
Ridley detailed his injury history with the Falcons in a letter published on The Players Tribune in March. He said he played through the 2020 season with a broken foot, and in previous years, dealt with nagging bone spurs.
“I did that for myself and to let some people know what’s going on,” Ridley said. ". . . I work hard. I was hurt. I’m not soft at all -- at all. I was in a tough situation. A lot of people, I would have [liked to have seen] how you handled that.”
Ridley, 28, made 90 receptions for 1,374 yards and nine touchdowns in 2020 and had 31 catches for 281 yards and two touchdowns in five games in 2021.
