National Football League

Should Jaguars re-sign WR Calvin Ridley after inconsistent season?

Updated Feb. 1, 2024 3:46 a.m. ET

While there will be plenty of offseason chatter revolving around the contract negotiations for Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who's eligible for an extension this spring, the uncertain future of one of his top targets is consequential as well.

Veteran wide receiver Calvin Ridley, who just wrapped up his first season with Jacksonville, is also eligible for a second contract, after playing 2023 on his fifth-year option. What makes Ridley's case unique is that the Jags would owe the Falcons their 2024 second-round pick for extending him, due to the parameters of their trade with Atlanta for the former first-round pick in 2022. Ridley is also older than your typical player looking for his second contract. He'll turn 30 next season.

Would general manager Trent Baalke and coach Doug Pederson be willing to swallow that pill?

"Obviously, [he's] a player that we've all liked on offense, and he's got a lot of talent," Pederson said at his end-of-season press conference. "He made us better as a team and you hope that things potentially work out, [but] you never know how things go. It's a crazy business, but Calvin was definitely a bright spot for us offensively."

Of the Jaguars top three wide receivers (Christian Kirk and Zay Jones are the others), Ridley was the only one to play all 17 games. He had a team-high 1,016 receiving yards and eight touchdowns on 76 catches.

After stepping away from the NFL in 2021 to focus on his mental health and then being suspended for all of 2022 for violating the league's gambling policy, Ridley was playing organized football this past season for the first time in nearly two years. Yet he didn't miss a practice, let alone a game. In fact, he was never even on the injury report. To do that and be the leading receiver on a new team with a different scheme, quarterback and playcaller is an impressive feat, considering Ridley's circumstances.

He was also one of the league's best at drawing defensive pass interference penalties, a testament to how difficult he is to cover. Seven DPIs were accepted when he was thrown to in 2023, tied for a league high, according to nflpenalties.com. Those penalties gave the Jaguars 129 yards, the most yardage attributed to any player through DPIs this past regular season.

"When you bring somebody in that hasn't been a part of football for over a year and a half, you've got to knock the rust off," Baalke said. "He did that and at times, he showed exactly who he was, who he can be."

Ridley had lulls throughout the season, though. He had stretches of inconsistency. There were costly drops. He disappeared at times. Despite being the Jaguars' leading receiver, he had fewer than 55 receiving yards in 10 of his 17 games. There were several occasions when he and Lawrence appeared out of sync and where Ridley may have run a wrong route.

Trevor Lawrence, Jags just couldn’t get the job done in 2023

That's not to say the Jaguars shouldn't extend him.

In fact, it appears to be the most sensible move. Ridley showed plenty of potential in Year 1 in Jacksonville. It's reasonable to believe he can take a massive jump in 2024 with the rust knocked off and more time with Lawrence, Pederson and the rest of the offense, even at his age.

After missing more than a season and a half of football, Ridley has less wear and tear on his body than other 29-year-old receivers.

"I feel young," he said. "I can run fast still, I'll tell you that."

One must also consider that the Jaguars are trying to maximize their window of opportunity with Lawrence, who remains relatively cheap for a franchise quarterback. His 2024 cap hit will be $11.7 million, which ranks outside the top 20 for signal-callers, according to Spotrac.

And after the late-season collapse of 2023, Baalke — and Pederson — undoubtedly feel pressure from owner Shad Khan to quickly bring the team back into contention in a rising AFC South, now led by C.J. Stroud and the Texans, and in an AFC conference that has the lion's share of the league's elite quarterback talent. Their job security post-2024 may depend on it. Extending Ridley would be an indication of a commitment to building a championship-caliber roster.

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Letting Ridley walk to preserve a second-round pick could be a risk that Baalke and Pederson don't have the luxury to take. There are no guarantees that the Jags could get the kind of contributor they need. Since Baalke became general manager in 2021, Jacksonville has drafted three players in the second round: cornerback Tyson Campbell (2021), offensive lineman Walker Little (2021) and tight end Brenton Strange (2023). Only Campbell was a starter as a rookie.

What may complicate efforts to re-sign Ridley, however, is that the Jaguars are already paying Kirk $18 million per year. Do they have the bandwidth to give another wideout top dollar?

Just one team is paying two wide receivers at least $18 million per year: the Chargers (Mike Williams, Keenan Allen).

"We would love to have Calvin back, and we're going to work toward that," Baalke said. "What that means? I don't know right now."

Ben Arthur is the AFC South reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.