3:00pm: With the new league year starting, the second part of the Ridley trade is locked in. The Falcons will receive the Jaguars’ 2024 third-round pick (No. 79). Had Ridley re-signed earlier, Atlanta would have ended up with Jacksonville’s No. 48 selection. The Jags already sent the Falcons their fifth-round choice last year. Now, the team awaits word on if it will keep the wide receiver.
2:47pm: We are minutes from the 2024 league year, which matters significantly in this particular free agency pursuit. Only the Jaguars and Patriots have been closely connected to Ridley, and Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz labels this a two-horse race. Despite Ridley’s 2021 hiatus and 2022 gambling suspension, he is expected to land a big number in free agency.
Continuing to make it clear to their 2022 trade pickup they view him as a long-term option rather than a rental, the Jags can re-sign him after 3pm CT and only send a third-round pick to the Falcons. At this point, it appears Atlanta will not be in play to collect Jacksonville’s second-rounder.
11:07am: Calvin Ridley‘s free agency has presented one of the more complex markets in recent memory, with the 2022 Jaguars-Falcons trade significantly impacting its composition. As the Patriots try to poach the former first-round pick, the Jags are not giving up.
Despite the Jags having agreed to terms with Gabe Davis, CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones notes they have made an offer to retain Ridley. This comes after a report indicated the Patriots have made an offer to Ridley, who looms as the top wideout available after Mike Evans, Tee Higgins and Michael Pittman Jr. did not end up hitting the market.
Ridley, 29, is the only one of PFR’s top 11 free agents not to have chosen a destination yet. A wink-wink agreement between Ridley and the Jags could conceivably be in place. If Jacksonville signs Ridley before 3pm CT today — the start of the 2024 league year — it goes down as an extension, meaning the team will send Atlanta its 2024 second-round pick. If Ridley re-signs with the Jags after 3pm, the Falcons will obtain the AFC South team’s third-rounder.
On that note, Jones adds the Jaguars are viewed as the more likely winner of these sweepstakes. The 2022 trade pickup is weighing the cost of living, and Florida’s lack of a state income tax has always represented an advantage against most other states housing NFL franchises. A Fort Lauderdale, Florida, native, Ridley also chose to be traded to the Jags in 2022; the Falcons discussed the 2018 first-round pick with several teams but worked with him to find an acceptable destination. Ridley having picked the Jags 17 months ago figures to matter now as well.
Ridley returning to Jacksonville would create a crowded receiver room. The Jags already featured an unusually constructed skill-position group, one that featured four players on either veteran contracts or a fifth-year option, in 2023. With Davis coming in, the team would seemingly need to move on from either Zay Jones or Christian Kirk to avoid the stranger scenario of five veteran deals — all north of $8MM per year — being allocated to pass catchers. With Kirk working as Trevor Lawrence‘s top target for most of his tenure, Jones may be the one on the chopping block. The slot player is due a $7MM base salary and is on the Jags’ cap at $10.75MM.
The Jags will need to backload Ridley’s contract or make more moves to clear cap space, as they hold just more than $5MM. The Patriots are in much better shape, sitting with nearly $60MM despite making several moves to retain their own UFAs. Ridley staying in Jacksonville would move the focus to other available wideouts — perhaps the Chargers’ Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, who have been connected to the Pats — as New England attempts to land a No. 1-caliber target.
There are no more excuses for Trevor Lawrence if he doesn’t step up.
They want to make sure it’s not him before they are forced to make a contract decision. That day is coming quickly.
Personally, I think Lawrence is still pretty good – but not close to the elite class. They invested a ton in weapons around him.
If Ridley comes back, the WR group is:
Ridley
Kirk
Gabe
Zay?
Duvernay
And even a high upside guy like Parker Washington – but he will probably never find real snap counts.
Plus, a first round investment in a RB, and a pretty good TE.
This team is interesting at least, but man…they fell apart last year.
The Jags definitely fell apart to finish the year but injuries played a massive role. Not an excuse as all teams deal with injuries throughout the year. The Kirk injury was massive though.
Trevor Lawrence isn’t going anywhere. Pederson will just get fired if they don’t win some playoff games this year, which is probably not going to happen considering how much better Stroud already is than him and that the rest of the conference has a lot of above average teams. However, that fan base is wrapped up in what he was supposed to be, so it will be at least one monster extension before they give up on him.
Where do the betting sites have Ridley signing?
I would assume the delayed signing favors Jacksonville since they cannot make that announcement until after 4:00 ET today
Yeah he’s definitely not coming to New England. Wolf better shift his focus to trading for a top reciever, overpay for Higgins or Aiyuk
Yes, you can remove the question mark. I literally posted this 45 minutes ago on your prior thread. He’s staying in JAX.
After it looked great in week one, that really didn’t work that well, so I have no idea what Jacksonville is doing here. Going to pay all receivers instead of spending it on their offensive line I guess.
Well I guess Trevor will have to work on his release. They’ll go four-wide and he’ll just sling it.
Wonder how much of at all Atlanta tries to press the issue of compensation and allege that an agreement was secretly in place prior to the deadline. Could be a couple weeks of popcorn munching while people speculate about subpoenaing phone records
It’s ATL’s fault for not being smarter w/ the language in the trade agreement. Bush league mistake… almost as silly as guaranteeing 100 mil to a 36 yr old QB coming off a horrific injury with a grand total of ONE playoff victory in his career.
This is the Falcons own dumb fault…why would you agree to an hour window where the team is most surely going to wink & nod to wait until 3pm to sign vs. 2pm. I get you have to draw the time-line somewhere, but this seems almost inevitable when he would sign if they had already planned on resigning Ridley.
Exactly, just dumb language in the trade agreement. Keep it simple. If you re-sign Ridley, you owe us a 2nd, if you don’t, you owe us a 3rd. Not complicated. They allowed JAX to spin them.
Like when Kirby Puckett used the Red Sox to get more money out of the Twins…
Tough time to be a Pats fan.