Jaguars WR Calvin Ridley Looks Back on Falcons' 'Tough Situation'

Calvin Ridley is expected to take the field in an NFL game for the first time in two years. This time, it won't be as a member of the Atlanta Falcons.

It has been a tumultuous and difficult last two years for ex-Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley, from dealing with an injury to taking time away from the field due to his mental health before being suspended indefinitely by the NFL. 

The relatively new member of the Jacksonville Jaguars is on track to play in his first game since 2021. However, since being reinstated by the league following his indefinite suspension for gambling on games, the former first-round pick reflected on his exit from Atlanta. 

"I love football,” Ridley said. “I just had it hard at that point. I was in my fourth season, and I didn’t want it to be that hard. I’m a great player who works and needs the offseason in order to be great. Most of us do. And that’s kind of what I was saying. I work hard. I was hurt. I am not soft at all – at all. I was in a tough situation. A lot of people, I would’ve wished I want to see how you would’ve handled that."

As a refresher, the injury that Ridley is talking about dates back to the 2020 season. During his career year, in which he recorded over 1,300 yards and nine touchdowns receiving, he had done it with a fractured foot. 

At the time of the initial injury, the Falcons' trainer diagnosed it as a bone bruise. So with that in mind, Ridley decided to take painkillers and gut it out.

Well, he'd find out that he actually had a broken foot and received a misdiagnosis, which continued to affect him going into the next season. After a struggling start to his 2021 season, Ridley decided enough was enough and that he needed to step away from football to heal physically and mentally. 

“The thing that made me more [mad] than anything was because I did it already. I already had did it," Ridley continued. "I was injured and played and played great, so I kind of put myself in that position where it was like: Why can’t you do it again? But I was like, ‘Damn, man, it’s just a little too much, a little too much right now.’ …

It was a whirlwind of a season for Ridley, where he self-admittingly looked like a "shell" of his former self before walking away from the game. Then as he was trying to find something to do in his newfound free time, he got suspended. 

Ridley is starting a new chapter with the Jaguars after the Falcons traded him at the last season's trade deadline. Ridley has healed and is ready to get back to being himself. At the same time, the Falcons hope they can top off a strong offseason with a successful NFL Draft class that can help them come out of a rebuild.

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