Sell me on Calvin Ridley

[darkadun]

I thought Ridley was good, not elite, but I felt his QB play at Alabama held him back a fair amount.

To me, I've traded for Ridley knowing full well he's a WR2/3 in Atlanta *right now* and that's fine by me. I've got OBJ, Tyreek and DT to be the top guys.

My thought is this, Julio will hit 30 before the start of this season, and only has 2 more years of dead cap money before he can be cut for nothing. Sanu has another 2 years before his cap number is minimal. Dynasty (to me) isn't about year 1 production, it's about long term potential and I think Ridley has it in Atlanta.

Matt Ryan is locked in long term in Atlanta. Ridley could be the second coming of Roddy White...and we know how that worked out.

To me, the landing spot is ideal, draft capital is huge... taking him as your next #1 WR is a mistake. Taking him as a potential WR2 with upside is the way to look at it.

Boom, this is the truth. I dont expect him to be Julio, but If he can turn into a Golden Tate type and be a top 15-20 wr after drafting him in 1.08-1.14, that’s a great player to have on your roster. IMO

[tresskid84]

I thought Ridley was good, not elite, but I felt his QB play at Alabama held him back a fair amount.

To me, I've traded for Ridley knowing full well he's a WR2/3 in Atlanta *right now* and that's fine by me. I've got OBJ, Tyreek and DT to be the top guys.

My thought is this, Julio will hit 30 before the start of this season, and only has 2 more years of dead cap money before he can be cut for nothing. Sanu has another 2 years before his cap number is minimal. Dynasty (to me) isn't about year 1 production, it's about long term potential and I think Ridley has it in Atlanta.

Matt Ryan is locked in long term in Atlanta. Ridley could be the second coming of Roddy White...and we know how that worked out.

To me, the landing spot is ideal, draft capital is huge... taking him as your next #1 WR is a mistake. Taking him as a potential WR2 with upside is the way to look at it.

I don't think Julio will be cut in two years, haha . . . Wouldn't shock me if he beats out Sanu as wr2 there though (I still want to see Ridley in the slot for the majority of his snaps, which Sanu plays a lot of as well)

[lic217]

I think there's a lot of people that are letting the hype created around Ridley define their view and expectations of his. People who bought into the "Amari Cooper's successor" hype are now doing a 180 as they are upset to find out that they bought into unfounded hype, as Cooper and Ridley are nothing alike. People who were never huge Ridley fans are using the fact that he's not an elite athlete or seemingly surefire prospect to dog him and pile on post-combine, despite him being a good football player yet not a surefire prospect.

I don't agree with OP's knock on Ridley about his late breakout because he's a bit of a special case as he was something like a 20 year old freshman. Obviously that's not working in his favor, but if a guy didn't step foot on a college field until he was almost 20 years old of course his breakout age isn't going to be great. But he did have a pretty good freshman year, so he came into his own in the college game quickly.

I do agree with previous posts in this same thread that think he's going to be a WR2-WR3 in the league. Ridley reminds me of a hybrid between Stevie Johnson and John Brown. He's an older, slightly-built prospect who will be a 24 year old rookie, much like Brown. Like Brown he's got good hands and can take the top off of a defense. Unlike Brown, he's not AS explosive, however he's got a more convincing college experience (SEC/Bama vs Pittsburgh State/DII for Smokey). Like Johnson (once he came into his own in the league a few seasons in), his route-running can put dudes on skates and make DB's look foolish, and he seems potentially effective at moving the chains for an offense as he's pretty solid at all 3 levels of the field. He's a bit bigger and less sudden than Brown, and he's a bit smaller and faster than Johnson.

Is Ridley worth a top 6 pick? Well, it depends. Ridley on say, the Saints opposite of Michael Thomas with Brees slinging it? Sure. Ridley on the Colts opposite of TY with a healthy Luck? Absolutely. Ridley on the Ravens with Flacco? Ehhhhh, probably not.

John Brown's best year to date for his career: 65/1003/7
Stevie Johnson's best years to date for his career: 82/1073/10, 76/1004/7, 79/10046/6

If he lands in an ideal situation, I'm comfortable nabbing him as early as 1.03.
If he lands in a good but not great situation, I'm comfortable drafting him at 1.05 and later.
If he lands in a terrible situation, I'm comfortable drafting him at 1.08 and later.

FWIW he is my WR3:

1. Sutton
2. Miller
3. Ridley
4. Washington
5. ESB

Miller at 2, and no DJ in your top 5? Wow. Amazing how differently some people see things. Not trashing your evaluation, but I have Sutton 1 and 2, and no Miller in top 5. I'll do the courtesy of watching a bit more of him. He was super productive, but is older and although somewhat athletic, as well as being undersized. What specifically do you like about his tape/profile that has him that high?

I have Miller as my number 1. This year is fun because how varied the the rankings are.

[whodunnit]

I think there's a lot of people that are letting the hype created around Ridley define their view and expectations of his. People who bought into the "Amari Cooper's successor" hype are now doing a 180 as they are upset to find out that they bought into unfounded hype, as Cooper and Ridley are nothing alike. People who were never huge Ridley fans are using the fact that he's not an elite athlete or seemingly surefire prospect to dog him and pile on post-combine, despite him being a good football player yet not a surefire prospect.

I don't agree with OP's knock on Ridley about his late breakout because he's a bit of a special case as he was something like a 20 year old freshman. Obviously that's not working in his favor, but if a guy didn't step foot on a college field until he was almost 20 years old of course his breakout age isn't going to be great. But he did have a pretty good freshman year, so he came into his own in the college game quickly.

I do agree with previous posts in this same thread that think he's going to be a WR2-WR3 in the league. Ridley reminds me of a hybrid between Stevie Johnson and John Brown. He's an older, slightly-built prospect who will be a 24 year old rookie, much like Brown. Like Brown he's got good hands and can take the top off of a defense. Unlike Brown, he's not AS explosive, however he's got a more convincing college experience (SEC/Bama vs Pittsburgh State/DII for Smokey). Like Johnson (once he came into his own in the league a few seasons in), his route-running can put dudes on skates and make DB's look foolish, and he seems potentially effective at moving the chains for an offense as he's pretty solid at all 3 levels of the field. He's a bit bigger and less sudden than Brown, and he's a bit smaller and faster than Johnson.

Is Ridley worth a top 6 pick? Well, it depends. Ridley on say, the Saints opposite of Michael Thomas with Brees slinging it? Sure. Ridley on the Colts opposite of TY with a healthy Luck? Absolutely. Ridley on the Ravens with Flacco? Ehhhhh, probably not.

John Brown's best year to date for his career: 65/1003/7
Stevie Johnson's best years to date for his career: 82/1073/10, 76/1004/7, 79/10046/6

If he lands in an ideal situation, I'm comfortable nabbing him as early as 1.03.
If he lands in a good but not great situation, I'm comfortable drafting him at 1.05 and later.
If he lands in a terrible situation, I'm comfortable drafting him at 1.08 and later.

FWIW he is my WR3:

1. Sutton
2. Miller
3. Ridley
4. Washington
5. ESB

Miller at 2, and no DJ in your top 5? Wow. Amazing how differently some people see things. Not trashing your evaluation, but I have Sutton 1 and 2, and no Miller in top 5. I'll do the courtesy of watching a bit more of him. He was super productive, but is older and although somewhat athletic, as well as being undersized. What specifically do you like about his tape/profile that has him that high?

I have Miller as my number 1. This year is fun because how varied the the rankings are.

I also have Miller as my WR1 this draft. When I watch his tape I see flashes of OBJ potential. Whether he can put it together on the field or not, I guess we'll see. I don't care so much about his age, and I think he went to a perfect situation. Just to be clear, I'm not saying he's going to match OBJ's level, I just see flashes of him looking like he could be "That Guy".

[dynastyninja]

Miller at 2, and no DJ in your top 5? Wow. Amazing how differently some people see things. Not trashing your evaluation, but I have Sutton 1 and 2, and no Miller in top 5. I'll do the courtesy of watching a bit more of him. He was super productive, but is older and although somewhat athletic, as well as being undersized. What specifically do you like about his tape/profile that has him that high?

I have Miller as my number 1. This year is fun because how varied the the rankings are.

I also have Miller as my WR1 this draft. When I watch his tape I see flashes of OBJ potential. Whether he can put it together on the field or not, I guess we'll see. I don't care so much about his age, and I think he went to a perfect situation. Just to be clear, I'm not saying he's going to match OBJ's level, I just see flashes of him looking like he could be "That Guy".

I can say confidently that I see almost nothing in Miller's game that reminds me of OBJ other than the occasional one-handed catch. He'll never come close to dominating like OBJ.

[Krypto_King]

, as Cooper and Ridley are nothing alike.

This is hilarious to me. Please tell me which player I'm describing:

dominated the SEC as a FR
stands 6'1"
has ~31.5" arms
has both great straight line speed and agility but limited explosion/jump
can play inside and outside
struggles with physicality
struggles with drops
wins at all 3 levels of the field
advanced route running + route tree
plug and play starter
1st round pedigree

If I don't give you their age or weight you can't actually tell them apart as prospects.

[Rosenbluu]

Ridley is gonna surprise a lot of people this year and in his career which is gonna be short cause he is so old. In all honestly dude has the smoothest routes I have ever seen and I’m gonna include that the dude runs a 4.43 40 yd dash... his floor alone is a high end WR3, with the patient all to easily be a high end WR2

[bsp27]

, as Cooper and Ridley are nothing alike.

This is hilarious to me. Please tell me which player I'm describing:

dominated the SEC as a FR
stands 6'1"
has ~31.5" arms
has both great straight line speed and agility but limited explosion/jump
can play inside and outside
struggles with physicality
struggles with drops
wins at all 3 levels of the field
advanced route running + route tree
plug and play starter
1st round pedigree

If I don't give you their age or weight you can't actually tell them apart as prospects.

and if Kupp played at Alabama he would have been a first round pick too...

[Rosenbluu]

, as Cooper and Ridley are nothing alike.

This is hilarious to me. Please tell me which player I'm describing:

dominated the SEC as a FR
stands 6'1"
has ~31.5" arms
has both great straight line speed and agility but limited explosion/jump
can play inside and outside
struggles with physicality
struggles with drops
wins at all 3 levels of the field
advanced route running + route tree
plug and play starter
1st round pedigree

If I don't give you their age or weight you can't actually tell them apart as prospects.

and if Kupp played at Alabama he would have been a first round pick too...

Really?

The dude has the crispiest routes I have ever seen and can take the top off a defense

[bsp27]

This is hilarious to me. Please tell me which player I'm describing:

dominated the SEC as a FR
stands 6'1"
has ~31.5" arms
has both great straight line speed and agility but limited explosion/jump
can play inside and outside
struggles with physicality
struggles with drops
wins at all 3 levels of the field
advanced route running + route tree
plug and play starter
1st round pedigree

If I don't give you their age or weight you can't actually tell them apart as prospects.

and if Kupp played at Alabama he would have been a first round pick too...

Really?

The dude has the crispiest routes I have ever seen and can take the top off a defense

Ur talking about Ridley right? Well, for being under 190 lbs, he is not extremely fast. Of course his routes are 'crisp', he has had 3 extra years to hone his route running.

[Krypto_King]

, as Cooper and Ridley are nothing alike.

This is hilarious to me. Please tell me which player I'm describing:

dominated the SEC as a FR
stands 6'1"
has ~31.5" arms
has both great straight line speed and agility but limited explosion/jump
can play inside and outside
struggles with physicality
struggles with drops
wins at all 3 levels of the field
advanced route running + route tree
plug and play starter
1st round pedigree

If I don't give you their age or weight you can't actually tell them apart as prospects.

and if Kupp played at Alabama he would have been a first round pick too...

Kupp can't run a 4.4 30

[ArrylT]

Cooper & Ridley both stayed in university for 3 years, Kupp played for 4 years. I'm not sure how much practice you get in High School to build your route tree.

[ArrylT]

https://www.thefalcoholic.com/2018/6/8/ ... vin-ridley

Ridley getting praise from WR coach (video included in article)

Going to be interesting to see if Ridley climbs in value over the course of the summer (pretty cheap atm in many MFL10s)

[Cult of Dionysus]

It looks more and more likely that Julio Jones will hold out on training camp. This surely means a jump in Calvin Ridley's value and prospects for 2018. He will get more reps, more looks, more focus from the entire team. Is this a great situation getting even greater? I certainly think so.

[Csl312]

[quote=bsp27 post_id=1462793

Ur talking about Ridley right? Well, for being under 190 lbs, he is not extremely fast. Of course his routes are 'crisp', he has had 3 extra years to hone his route running.
[/quote]

I've just read through the whole thread and have seen a few times this 3 extra years argument. Could you elaborate here? As far as I can tell he was in high school until age 20. I'm not certain he is getting any professional coaching and high level training before he was 20 and went to Bama. But maybe I'm wrong. Otherwise I'd say his age is not too related to his skill level.