Sell me on Calvin Ridley

General talk about Dynasty Leagues.
FantasyFreak
GOAT
GOAT
Posts: 27107
Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2014 1:03 am

Re: Sell me on Calvin Ridley

Postby FantasyFreak » Sat Apr 07, 2018 10:37 am

jaykay22 wrote: Sun Apr 01, 2018 10:30 pm 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?
Last edited by FantasyFreak on Sat Apr 07, 2018 4:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"You're a creep. You got caught.." -Dan Patrick

User avatar
spotxc
Pro Bowler
Pro Bowler
Posts: 1067
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2015 9:52 am

Re: Sell me on Calvin Ridley

Postby spotxc » Sat Apr 07, 2018 1:15 pm

I can't see ridley being lower than 3 at the moment...He still looks like a solid wr prospect where there aren't any clear studs in this class

User avatar
Forza_Azzurri
Pro Bowler
Pro Bowler
Posts: 1273
Joined: Fri Jan 26, 2018 6:52 am

Re: Sell me on Calvin Ridley

Postby Forza_Azzurri » Sat Apr 07, 2018 2:47 pm

I personally like Moore & Sutton a lot more ... but I have a feeling that Ridley could be this years Cook. So many people were down on Cook after the combine, but he showed he could produce in games.

User avatar
HawkeyeState
Ring of Fame
Ring of Fame
Posts: 3881
Joined: Tue May 21, 2013 3:08 pm

Re: Sell me on Calvin Ridley

Postby HawkeyeState » Sat Apr 07, 2018 2:53 pm

Calvin Ridley is probably the most overhyped WR that shouldn't be. Every major draft analyst has him as this speedster and this refined route runner that is the undisputed #1 in the class.
It's laughable to be quite honest. He's an average at best athlete all around. Just look at his player profiler page to see how truly average this guy is.
He'll be a good NFL teams #2 or #3 WR, but he'll never be able to be a #1 and demand that defenses double him or gameplan to stop him.

I would rather take shots on Sutton/Moore/James Washington and completely whiff.
Ridley to me feels like that guy you draft in the top 6 of rookie drafts and will annually disappoint you in FF. He'll have very low trade value, but if you cut him, every guy in the league would be willing to add him for free to see if he can get it together for a free shot.
Team 1
10 TM .5 PPR, 6 pt all TDs 1/2/3/1/2Flex
Newton, Rivers
LF, Chubb, Michel, Kerryon, Hyde, AJones, Royce F, Crowell
Adams, Cooper, Alshon, Watkins, ARob, Fuller, Doctson, Funchess, Gallup, Pettis, Valdez-Scant
Gronk, HHenry, Engram
1.09, 2.09, 3.09, 4.09, 5.09

Team 2
10 TM 1/2/3/1/1Flex 6pt all TDs .25 PPR RB, .5 PPR WR, 1 PPR TE
Wilson, Big Ben
Bell, JConner, MMack, Shady, CThompson, D'Onta Foreman, C Edmonds, B Scarborough
Julio, Nuk, Fuller, Cooks, ARob, Watkins, Cooper, SShepard, CDavis, DJ Chark
Kelce, Olsen, Andrews
1.09, 2.09, 3.09, 4.09, 5.09

Team 3
10 team, 0.5 PPR RBs WRs, 1 PPR TEs, Devy Superflex League
Carr, Goff, Falk
Barkley, Dalvin, Mixon, Michel, Ballage, MDavis, Dixon, Akers*
Hopkins, JuJu, Watkins, Fuller, Agholor, Moncrief, EQSB, Valdez-Scant, CRogers
Eifert, Ebron, JJames, JCook
1.02, 2.02, 2.06, 3.04

Played against David Johnson in HS, he was a stud back then too

RightlegTucker
All Pro
All Pro
Posts: 1729
Joined: Thu Sep 18, 2014 8:37 am

Re: Sell me on Calvin Ridley

Postby RightlegTucker » Sat Apr 07, 2018 3:04 pm

Pullo Vision wrote: Sat Apr 07, 2018 10:15 am If you watched NFL Network's coverage of the Combine, you'd have heard alot of enthusiasm for Ridley. Even when the TEs were on the field, they found a way to show Ridley footage and discuss him. Michael Irvin in particular was very enthusiastic.
They hyped up and showed a lot of enthusiasm for Kevin White, Breshad Perriman, and a variety of other prospects over the years too when they were coming out. That's what they do. General enthusiasm for a prospect by on air anchors is nebulous and offers nothing of value. I (and I assume OP) are looking for concrete reasons why Calvin Ridley should be viewed as the top prospect of this WR class. Did they say anything noteworthy or specific about him that led you to agree with their opinion(s)? For example, Lance Zierlen highlighted his technical route running and compared his ability to Marvin Harrison. That was a bit much from my perspective, and seemed more hyperbolic than anything. It was something tangible though.

KilgoreT111
Practice Squad
Practice Squad
Posts: 111
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 3:51 pm

Re: Sell me on Calvin Ridley

Postby KilgoreT111 » Sat Apr 07, 2018 3:10 pm

People sometimes make to big a deal about breakout age. In this case it seems justified. When Ridley played his first game as a freshman for Alabama he was only 1 month younger than Juju was as a rookie in the NFL....

This isn't a statement of whether or not he'll be a good NFL player or not. I've learned enough to say who knows, but it should definitely be taken into account.
12 teams.. start 1 QB 2 WR 2 RB 1. Flex (wr/rb/te) 1 TE
6 pt tds 1pt 20 pass yds 1 pt 10 rec/run yds .5ppr wr/rb 1 ppr TE
QB: Stafford, Bradford
RB: Spiller, R Bush, Mathews, Miller, B Brown, F Jax, J Bell
WR: Julio, Nicks, Maclin, L Moore, Givens, Sanu
TE: VD, Bennett

User avatar
Vcize
Ring of Fame
Ring of Fame
Posts: 3666
Joined: Tue May 03, 2016 4:30 pm

Re: Sell me on Calvin Ridley

Postby Vcize » Sat Apr 07, 2018 3:26 pm

KilgoreT111 wrote: Sat Apr 07, 2018 3:10 pm People sometimes make to big a deal about breakout age. In this case it seems justified. When Ridley played his first game as a freshman for Alabama he was only 1 month younger than Juju was as a rookie in the NFL....

This isn't a statement of whether or not he'll be a good NFL player or not. I've learned enough to say who knows, but it should definitely be taken into account.
The bold seems a bit backwards. Typically breakout age has some correlation to NFL success (about the 4th most predictive, I believe), but I think typically a worst case scenario in that respect is when a player performs poorly as an underclassmen and then all of the sudden breaks out when he's the oldest guy on the field. If I were going to say "in this case it seems justified" I would think that would apply to someone who followed that path.

Unlike the guys who typically have a high breakout age, and who likely are the ones that make the stat correlate to NFL struggles, Ridley didn't underperform when he didn't have an age advantage. We just never saw what happened in that scenario. His breakout age was old because he enrolled in school old. He broke out as early as he could.

In that sense I'd rate his breakout age as a bit of an "incomplete". Obviously not as good as if he was dominating at age 20 like Juju, but not as bad as if he were getting shut down at age 20. Kind of in the middle.

The worrying thing about Ridley for me is that he's small and fairly unathletic. It seems like most successful small receivers are notably quick, which Ridley really isn't. The one thing he has going for him is that the one athletic measure he performed well in (40 time) is the one that has by far the highest correlation to NFL success of any of those athlete variables for WRs.
12 Team FFPC TE Premium
QB: Herbert, Brady
RB: Barkley, Mixon, Jav Williams, Pierce, Drake
WR: Jefferson, AJ Brown, Metcalf, Hopkins, Peoples-Jones
TE: Kittle, Goedert

User avatar
Jason3123
Ring of Fame
Ring of Fame
Posts: 3030
Joined: Wed Nov 20, 2013 9:15 pm

Re: Sell me on Calvin Ridley

Postby Jason3123 » Sat Apr 07, 2018 4:00 pm

Why waste a pick on Ridley when you can draft the superior Christian Kirk.

whodunnit
Ring of Fame
Ring of Fame
Posts: 3200
Joined: Sat Aug 09, 2014 7:55 am

Re: Sell me on Calvin Ridley

Postby whodunnit » Sat Apr 07, 2018 4:24 pm

bsp27 wrote: Sun Apr 01, 2018 9:39 am
Goirish374 wrote: Sun Apr 01, 2018 9:36 am I mean, i think the discussion becomes a lot shorter when we begin with the assumption that dominator rating and breakout age are as predictive as we want them to be.
I mean, I provided the chart which shows that there no receivers in his archetype that have succeeded, and that isn't even including his lackluster production.
I don't know what you, or anyone else considers production, or succeeding, but I would say Cooper Kupp's rookie season of 62/869/5 isn't necessarily not succeeding or producing.... and I see no reason he can't get better. The rest of your list I could get on board with (although Keelan Cole had a decent 2nd half of his season as well). Maybe an outlier? Maybe a fluke season?

just a thought.
Watson Goff Purdy
Pierce Swift Robinson Conner Patterson
Hill Lamb Pittman Williams Renfrow Samuel
Hockenson Knox Kmet Schultz

Kcarr
Captain
Captain
Posts: 858
Joined: Tue Aug 04, 2015 6:43 am

Re: Sell me on Calvin Ridley

Postby Kcarr » Sat Apr 07, 2018 4:53 pm

Kupp was 15 pounds heavier and an inch shorter so that is a much thicker and more solid build. He also was more than a tenth quicker in 3 cone and 4 tenths quicker in the 20 yard and 6 inches better in the broad jump. All of that shows a stockier build with more agility, short area quickness, and explosion
Last edited by Kcarr on Sat Apr 07, 2018 5:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
4th and long: ppr, 10 team, qb, rb, rb, wr, wr, wr, flex, flex, te, k, dl, dl, lb, lb, db, db, dflex, dflex

QB: Kirk Cousins Tyrod Taylor, Jared Goff
RB: Melvin Gordon, Ezekiel Elliot, Theo Riddick, D'Onta Foreman, James Conner, Jamal Williams
WR: Alshon Jeffrey, Amari Cooper, Sammy Watkins, Keenan Allen, Jordan Matthews, Cole Beasley, Robby Anderson, Corey Davis, Breshad Perriman, Eli Rogers
TE: Eric Ebron, , David Njoku, Jack Doyle
K: Will Lutz
DL: Frank Clark, Danielle Hunter
LB: Luke Kuechley, Bobby Wagner, Jordan Hicks, Mark Barron, Darron Lee
DB: Sean Davis, Morgan Burnett,

IR: Clayton Geathers, Quincy Enunwa, Raekwon McMillan

User avatar
lukkynumber13
GOAT
GOAT
Posts: 13531
Joined: Fri May 20, 2016 2:41 pm

Re: Sell me on Calvin Ridley

Postby lukkynumber13 » Sat Apr 07, 2018 5:02 pm

Jason3123 wrote: Sat Apr 07, 2018 4:00 pm Why waste a pick on Ridley when you can draft the superior Christian Kirk.
... :shock:

Yucky.
TEAM A - 12T (22 R/U, 20 R/U, 19 R/U, 18 Champ, 17 R/U)
HERBERT, Baker
BIJAN/KAMARA/MIXON, A Jones
HILL/AJB/DK/G WILSON/D Adams, Pittman, Z Flowers, Evans
KITTLE
/
TEAM B - 16T, SF, TEP (22 R/U)
HURTS/MINSHEW, Cousins, D Jones
JT/JACOBS, Mostert, Gus E
HILL/MCLAURIN/DEEBO
KELCE/KITTLE, LaPorta
/
TEAM C - 14T, SF (Joined in 22)
GENO
HENRY/A JONES, Gus E
HILL/DIGGS/K ALLEN
WALLER
/
TEAM D - 14T, 1QB (Joined in 22)
MAHOMES, Goff
BIJAN/BREECE/POLLARD
CHASE/DIGGS/G WILSON/AIYUK, DJM, Pittman
KITTLE, Goedert
/
TEAM E - 14T, SF, 2TE (Started in 22)
MAHOMES/T-LAW, Carr
BIJAN/CMC/SAQUON/POLLARD, Hall
HILL/AIYUK/EVANS/GODWIN, Hollywood, Thielen
MCBRIDE/ENGRAM, Goedert, Chig
/
TEAM F - 16T (Joined in 23)
R WILSON, Minshew
SAQUON/KAMARA/MIXON, Monty
DIGGS/GODWIN/AIYUK/EVANS, Thielen, A Cooper
KELCE, Schultz
/
TEAM G - 12T, SF & TEP (Joined in 23)
HERBERT/TUA, Kyler
BIJAN/MIXON, Spears, J Warren
JJ/G WILSON/WADDLE/OLAVE, Godwin, J Reed
LAPORTA

whodunnit
Ring of Fame
Ring of Fame
Posts: 3200
Joined: Sat Aug 09, 2014 7:55 am

Re: Sell me on Calvin Ridley

Postby whodunnit » Sat Apr 07, 2018 5:06 pm

Kcarr wrote: Sat Apr 07, 2018 4:53 pm Kupp was 15 pounds heavier and an inch shorter so that is a much thicker and more solid build. He also was more than a tenth quicker in 3 cone and 4 tenths quicker in the 20 yard and 6 inches better in the broad jump. All of that shows a stickier build with more agility, short area quickness, and explosion
I'm just referring to OP's list he posted.
Watson Goff Purdy
Pierce Swift Robinson Conner Patterson
Hill Lamb Pittman Williams Renfrow Samuel
Hockenson Knox Kmet Schultz

User avatar
Vcize
Ring of Fame
Ring of Fame
Posts: 3666
Joined: Tue May 03, 2016 4:30 pm

Re: Sell me on Calvin Ridley

Postby Vcize » Sat Apr 07, 2018 5:12 pm

bsp27 wrote: Sun Apr 01, 2018 9:39 am
Goirish374 wrote: Sun Apr 01, 2018 9:36 am I mean, i think the discussion becomes a lot shorter when we begin with the assumption that dominator rating and breakout age are as predictive as we want them to be.
I mean, I provided the chart which shows that there no receivers in his archetype that have succeeded, and that isn't even including his lackluster production.
The "lackluster production" thing is misleading. His dominator score got knocked down because he sat out so much when Alabama had big leads and let their backup QB they were developing throw to a bunch of backup WRs.

The average WR gets 45% of their production in the first half of games and 55% in the 2nd half. Ridley had 70% of his production in the 1st half. It's not because he was tired. It's because he was sitting out a lot in the 2nd half when they were up by 40 points.
Last edited by Vcize on Sat Apr 07, 2018 5:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
12 Team FFPC TE Premium
QB: Herbert, Brady
RB: Barkley, Mixon, Jav Williams, Pierce, Drake
WR: Jefferson, AJ Brown, Metcalf, Hopkins, Peoples-Jones
TE: Kittle, Goedert

nathanq42
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame
Posts: 4021
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2014 7:40 am

Re: Sell me on Calvin Ridley

Postby nathanq42 » Sat Apr 07, 2018 5:19 pm

Not a guy I would own, just because I usually buy successful receivers and draft RB. I find it easier to scout and predict RBs than WRs, not to mention most often you have to sit on WRs for awhile. Plus my league is .2 points per carry (I hate it, but we have a third WR spot so it isn't too bad) so second tier RBs that have warts (Cook, Mixon, Fournette, Melvin Gordon) are pretty close to high end WRs. Not to mention the amount of 1000 yard WRs is waaaaaay bigger than 1000 yard RBs which makes trading for a good RB that much harder.

Also I am not a fan of how light he is. I feel like it will be very easy to jam him and knock him off his routes.
12 Team 1 ppr .1 points per carry
Garbage
QB Jalen Hurts
RB A-train, D'Onta Foreman,Jahmyr Gibbs, JK Dobbins, Rashaad Penny, AJ Dillon, Jerrick McKinnon, Joshua Kelley, TDP, Chase Edmonds, JRob, Zamir White
WR CeeDee Lamb, Justin Jefferson, DJ Moore, Hollywood Brown, Brandin Cooks, Odell Beckham Junior, Marvin Jones, Braxton Berrios, Richie James
TE Dalton Kincaid, Foster Moreau
+2 Flex
1.02, 1.06

Cameron Giles
GOAT
GOAT
Posts: 14243
Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2014 6:06 pm

Re: Sell me on Calvin Ridley

Postby Cameron Giles » Sat Apr 07, 2018 5:41 pm

I think Ridley has a high floor; you know what you're getting out of him to some degree. He runs really good routes, sharp cuts in and out of his breaks, can make corners look absolutely stupid if they give him space, catches well on the move and he can play around the formation. I don't see him as a #1 WR though. Sure, that's weird to say for someone who's projected to be the top WR prospect in this group, but this WR group isn't very good to begin with.


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Amazon [Bot] and 36 guests