JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Star NFL wideout Calvin Ridley has been away from football for the last two years due to injury and a one-year suspension.
“The thing that made me more mad than anything was that I did it already. I was injured and played great. I kind of put myself in that position where it was like, ‘Alright, why can’t you do it again?’ It was a little too much right now. When you get to a certain point in your career, you got to look at yourself as a business at the same time. I’m going to sacrifice for a while, I’m coming to you as a man and letting you know something I don’t want to let you know. Let’s work this out. I’m going to be here forever, whatever you want to do, I’m willing to sacrifice for whatever is important to me,” Ridley said.
The Jaguars signed Ridley after he was reinstated by the NFL in February and he can't wait to hit the field with his new quarterback: Trevor Lawrence.
“I’ve been here for about five weeks. I’ve been here in the sun and running around, trying to learn the city and everything. Getting with Trevor, that’s been great. I feel like we’re two good players and we got a bunch of great teammates that are weapons to use. I think we’re going to be pretty good; we got to keep gelling, keep getting better, get all that stuff out of the way. But yeah, looking pretty decent right now,” Ridley said.
Trevor told the media Wednesday that Ridley is hungry to win, has the right attitude and has gelled with the Jags' receivers.
"On the field, he’s a freak, just the way he runs routes, how explosive he is. He has great hands, seems like he’s picking stuff up. Obviously, we just started, but it seems like he’s picking it up pretty quickly. He has the experience, he’s played for a few years, so he’s used to having some new systems, and some stuff carries over through offenses. He’s been great. I’m just excited to have him be part of our room. It seems like he’s really gelling with the guys great. It’s not the hardest group to gel with. Christian (WR Christian Kirk) and Zay (WR Zay Jones), all those guys are awesome. I think they treat guys well, and they’ve brought him in. it’s going really well. He seems super hungry and ready to go," Lawrence said.
Trevor is also excited for next season as it'll be his third season with the Jags, but more importantly his second straight with continuity on the coaching staff.
He said having the same coaches this time around has helped him become comfortable with the offensive system and also focus more on getting in the best physical shape this offseason.
“There’s some comfort in knowing that I already know the system and our guys, our core group of guys already know it. You’ve got Calvin (WR Calvin Ridley) and some guys up front and some new running backs and all that that need to get up to speed, but that’ll happen, and we have so much time to do it. I think it was nice this offseason being able to focus a little bit more just on the physical side of training and getting my body right, especially after a long year with some lingering maybe injuries, little stuff from the season. I had a chance to take a little break that helped some of that heal up and really just work on my body, and obviously, prepping, and there’s things, you watch tape and you figure out some of the weaknesses from last year individually, as an offense, some of the strengths, so you kind of figure out the stuff that you want to work on. I was able to focus more on that than I’ve got a whole new system I have to learn, and I don’t really have to start from scratch. It’s nice having that comfort that I know the system, and that’s not an obstacle I’m going to have to really face this year, but now it’s just how do we take that next step for myself and for the offense,” Lawrence said.