The Tennessee Titans made a splash signing in free agency with the addition of wide receiver Calvin Ridley, who will provide quarterback Will Levis with a much-needed upgrade on offense.
In order to secure Ridley, the Titans gave him a four-year, $92 million deal that saw no shortage of criticism, with the vast majority of it coming from national media, as you’d expect.
One of those people is Gilberto Manzano of Sports Illustrated, who cites the deal as the reason Ridley will the biggest free-agent bust from this year’s signings.
Ridley left Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars to be the No. 1 wide receiver for Will Levis and the Titans. There’s nothing wrong with the team adding a dynamic wide receiver to help a second-year quarterback, but they might regret this contract in a year or two.
Ridley, who turns 30 later this year, signed a massive four-year, $92 million contract with the Titans—it’s understandable why the Jaguars didn’t match that price. For that contract, Ridley comes with too many concerns, including age, availability and performance. He played in every game for the Jaguars last season, something he did only once in five seasons with the Falcons. But Ridley struggled to learn Doug Pederson’s offense and had a few costly drops with the Jaguars. Perhaps playing with new Titans coach Brian Callahan will make the Ridley signing worth the risks.
As far as his age is concerned, lest we forget that Ridley only played in five games in 2021 and was suspended for the entire 2022 campaign, thus he has more tread on the tire than most receivers his age.
And if you ask him, he’s really 25, so…
Sure, Ridley has missed games in the past due to injury, but he’s coming off a season in which he played in all 17 games for the Jacksonville Jaguars. And, putting the 2021 campaign aside for now, the most games he’s missed in a season is three.
We’ve seen a variety of explanations for why things didn’t pan out as well as they could have in Jacksonville. That said, if his issues were that concerning, his former pass-game coordinator with the Jags and current Titans offensive coordinator, Nick Holz, likely would have sounded the alarm before Tennessee signed him.
The fact of the matter is, the Titans desperately needed help at the position to aid in their quest to figure out if Levis is the guy. It’s true they spent a lot of money to acquire Ridley, but that’s to be expected when signing the best available player at a position in free agency.
And, the contract will look a lot more tame once the slew of wideouts around the NFL get the extensions they are due for.
Even if this the Ridley signing crashes and burns, the Titans have a fairly reasonable out in Year 3, and a near-clean out in Year 4, so this is hardly a contract that will sink the franchise if it doesn’t work out.
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