NFL clubs are scrambling to acquire talent on the first day of legal wrangling in free agency. Defensive lineman Javon Hargrave, safety Jesse Bates III, linebacker Tremaine Edmonds, and right tackle Jawan Taylor have all agreed to large contracts. On the other hand, the wide receiver market has been slow and all the big-name players available are still waiting to make a deal. This is why the Jacksonville Jaguars were smart to trade for Calvin Ridley last year.
The truth is that this may not be a particularly great year for signing wide receivers. Despite the fact that there are a handful of solid options available, none of them are worth the top-market deal available. Jacobi Meyers is the best of the bunch but he may have a hard time getting what he gets paid an annual average of $20 million. As of this writing, he is still without a team. The same is true for JuJu Smith-Schuster, who recently won a Super Bowl ring with the Kansas City Chiefs.
While it’s still early in free agency, it’s a bit surprising to see the lack of demand for wide receivers in free agency. On the other hand, the tight-end market has been equally slow. Chris Manhertz signed with the Denver Broncos but Dalton Schultz and Mike Gesicki are still available, so players still have plenty of time to make deals while looking for a new team.
The Jacksonville Jaguars deserve props for trading Calvin Ridley
General manager Trent Baelke was under scrutiny for offering top-market contracts to both Jay Jones and Christian Kirk. However, other recipients went on to sign even more lucrative deals and Jones and Kirk are coming off career years, so it’s fair to say that the Jacksonville Jaguars got a great return on their investment.
But even though Jones and Kirk became the mainstays of the offense, Baalke knew the Jags were still missing another receiver, so he acquired Calvin Ridley before last year’s trade deadline. Even though Ridley was serving an indefinite suspension for betting on football games in 2021, he had posted impressive numbers in 2020, so it seemed like a low-risk, high-reward move.
Ridley applied for reinstatement in February and his suspension was lifted in early March. He recently wrote on The Players’ Tribune that he played the 2021 season on a broken leg but had enough time to heal. Based on the videos he shared on social media, he looks perfectly healthy and will have plenty of time to get into football shape as training camp is several months away.
It is not an exaggeration to say that with the addition of Ridley, the Jaguars have one of the best wide receiver corps in the league. With tight end Evan Engram going nowhere in 2023, it would not be shocking to see Jacksonville have a top 5 offense in 2023, which would not have been possible if they had used this year’s free agency to complete their receiver group. waiting for