This Is Why The Tennessee Titans Signed Calvin Ridley

out of nowhere Calvin Ridley is a Tennessee Titan according to Ian rap report The Details four years 92 million with $50 million fully guaranteed this is for a 29-year-old currently obviously coming up on his age 30 season a guy who missed the vast majority of the 2021 year then had to sit out 2022 to me Hayden had a really good solid season in 2023 and now becomes a heavily heavily paid wide receiver for the first time in his NFL career we should look at this as a two-year uh $25 million perear deal uh guaranteed and then it'll be a team option for the Titans afterwards in the meantime they're trying to figure out if Will Levis is their Guy having DeAndre Hopkins and Calvin Ridley on the perimeter gives them two solid established reliable veterans uh I think both DeAndre Hopkins and Calvin Ridley don't have the same juice but I think what I like about this fit here for Calvin Ridley is he's probably going to have to win Less in isolation on the line of scrimmage uh and I think that he's going to be able to be be able to be moved around a little bit more uh in Brian Callahan's offense which we saw with Jamar Chase for example rather than last year when Jacksonville was running out of options because of the other injuries so I think that Calvin Ridley could look a little bit better this year assuming will Levis is capable as a passer so I think there's a number of layers we have to unpack here okay the first one is his fit here with the Tennessee Titans and let's begin by saying as you said Brian Callahan is the new head coach of this team he just spent a ton of time with the Cincinnati Bengals if you listen to any of the interviews that he or Rand carthon did at the NFL combine all they talked about was adding Playmakers okay we saw Tony par deal immediately come down the pipe um they obviously have T Spears already on the roster and then for the team that today in really the third day of Regency has the most effective cap space remaining on their books goes out there and spends this money on Calin Ridley the other segment of this is I I believe fans out there either that played fantasy football or watch games might have a differing opinion of Calvin reallyy than me and you they'll look at you know 76 receptions 1,06 yards eight touchdowns to me like that's not worth this much $23 million per year $50 million guaranteed but what Hayden and I constantly tried to reiterate in stats versus film and every single show that we did throughout the season is basically since Z Jones went down for the Jacksonville Jaguars this past season Cal rley was being played out of position he was being used as their ex-wide receiver and having to win down the field without motion without alignments over and over and over again until that kind of changed just towards the end of the year so with Brian cian who was a main architect of that Bengals offense you kind of if you want to be simple with this can have DeAndre Hopkins and someone of the T Higgins role Calvin Ridley in somewhat of the Jamar Chase role and then we roll from there is is it as simple as that to you I think yeah basically do think it's as simple as that last year when Calvin Ridley was barely missing out on some production I think it was because there were reps where he would get pushed near the sideline because he's a little bit more of a Slender guy and previously he had a little bit more speed to get around that corner downfield this time he's not going to have to be pushed next to the sideline over and over and over again the weird part about the fit though is it kind of goes down to like the trayon Burks uh evaluation here too is trayon DeAndre Calvin the only play on the perimeter so trayon played 77% of his snaps in college in the slot do they push push him back inside has trayon Burks even been productive enough to be part of this conversation um also maybe not as well but the Titans are going to play a lot more three wide receiver sets this upcoming year and I think they're trying to get they're trying to avoid the Bryce young debacle from last year where you gota at least be able to evaluate your Young quarterback and I think that DeAndre Hopkins and Calvary Le is a good enough one to punch at least get that answered trayon Burks is a fascinating point of conversation here because Rand carthon who again pulls a lot of weight in this organization was not the general manager when they made that deal and obviously dealt away AJ Brown who by the way is being paid just $2 million do more annually in his contract with the Philadelphia Eagles I also want to add another layer on to this is that Calvin Ridley's passing game coordinator last year with the Jacksonville Jaguars I believe his name is Nick Holtz is now the alphens coordinator with the Tennessee Titans um what you and I are saying about the role that Calvin Ridley played last year misused I would phrase it the Jacksonville Jaguars understood that this offseason and I think that they had this plan laid out and some might call it a gamble of hey in the early part of free agency we're going to pay Gabriel Davis 13 million do per year to be that boundary X ISO wide receiver who just wins down the field as a bigger body and then once you get to four o'clock on Wednesday when we can resign Calvin Ridley without getting the penalty of moving our third round pick that we traded to Atlanta that would then turn to a second round pick if they resigned him in the first two days then we just resigned Cal Ridley and it sounded like Hayden that that plan was going according to exactly what they had hoped it was them and the New England Patriots and I I do wonder if you know having to navigate those Waters and balance the books in that way the Tennesse Titans understood that in some way and said oh we're getting to this point where even if we give him this offer he can't go back to Jacksonville and ask for you know despite the taxes and you know all that stuff we can't go back to Jacksonville and he they can't match this so if we offer this he's going to take this money and that's exactly to me from a third party how it played out jackville just didn't have that much cap space period they had like $10 million going into today so with compared to the Titans who I believe had like 70 million all of a sudden it's going to be hard to win a bidding war when you just have less money to spend there was also a report when it was Jacksonville in New England that Calvin wanted to be close to home and then also not be in a taxable State well Tennessee solves some of those issues also the familiar familiarity with the OC as well so uh coming in there winning the bid at the last second uh was smart um and it wasn't predictable early on but throughout today once we started putting the pieces together you kind of see how the Titans had to spend this money somehow and I think uh it's going to actually help us out in the mock draft world now that they have two of the three wide receiver spots for sure locked up maybe now at seven are they a trade down team do they draft the left tackle of the future uh with Joe Al for example um because at one point we were saying is this a Malik neighbors spot I think that's this takes a little bit pressure off of that if they like Malik neighbors over Joe Walt sure throw them into the slot let's Boogie on but uh they could also look at the left tackle in the first round now so they are at pick number seven I had previously given them a Malik neighbors or radun because of you know the situation that Brian Callahan was a part of with Cincinnati of hey do we take Jamar Chase or do we take pan Su in that draft and obviously they sided with Jamar Chase and in many ways the Titans are were in the exact same situation I don't know though like if they grade those wide receivers more higher than the offensive tackles if you allow a 32-year-old DeAndre Hopkins right from stopping you from taking one of those Elite wide receiver prospects you know Malik neighbors can play in the slot a vertical slot option they need I I I'm with you though on the tray and Burke stuff I think right now if the season started today they would slide him into the slot and see what happens I don't think that anyone in this organization is expecting a whole lot from tray and Burks at this point and I don't think that they should we had these same concerns about trayon Burks entering the NFL because it was a bunch of shorter Crossing routes that he could win after the catch on and every once in a while he would be on the outside and running vertical routes and catching those on occasion right so it's entire rookie season was basically learning how to play wide receiver on the Fly and he's also been injured ever since you know it's been awful head injuries it felt like one after the other right and so yeah you're here in year three and it's almost uh Hey if you give us something then we can you know bet on you moving forward but if not then hey now we can move forward in in this other direction you know they have brought in Lloyd cushenberry at Center on top of this not filling in that left tackle spot it feels like that is the glaring hole they still do have plenty of c space you know like they they maybe even could go pay like a Tyron Smith for example and really confuse this in the top seven overall selections but I don't know if I am sitting here on you know March 12th March 13 and saying that hey because they signed caly that means they takes them out of wide receiver at number seven it doesn't take him out but if I was doing a mock draft right now I'd slide in left tackle it's just a bigger need um big winner for fantasy circles Christian Kirk I mean Gabe Davis out there on the perimeter he's doing the Dirty Work stuff I don't think he's going to be a huge volume hog the Evan Ingram and and Christian Kirk numbers with Trevor Lawrence who were very high on I think those guys are GNA go absolutely nuts at this point seems like they're going to keep Z Jones I think that if they were gonna sign Calvin Ridley then they would release Z Jones maybe now Z Jones stays on on the on the deal but I think that I mean Christian Kirk and Evan Ingram I think it's a huge win that you're placing Calvin rley with Gabe Davis because it's not just the difference in the volume it's also the type of roles and think they're going to have to scheme up a lot more stuff to Christian Kirk yeah I wonder if they pivot that Cal reallyy money which again this was part of their plan they definitely did want him back if they shift that over to a different position like defensive line for example like Eric arms said they're sitting there at pick number 17 wide receiver is definitely more in play now and this certainly will not soften or quell any comments Duvall has Jaguars Twitter has for Trent balky at this moment because again the the the plans were in place and if the Titans didn't come calling with this it certainly sounded as if Calvin Ridley was going back to Jacksonville uh we talked to Trevor Lawrence out there during Super Bowl weekend and I asked him what he wanted his offense to look like in 2024 and the number one name he brought up was bring Calin Ridley back because he was out for so long and how much he changed you know the offense and you know they were three inches away from another three touchdowns or anything it is true I also do think at a certain point just the price tag matters and I'm personally a little bit I I think Calvin Ry was a fine player last year 25 million a year for the next two years I would be a little bit nervous and year three and year four like I think I think is a little bit problematic I think Gabe Davis is half the price of Calvin Ridley I and them prioritizing like getting Mitch Morris for example like would you rather have Mitch Morris and Gabe Davis i' rather just have than Gabe Davis yeah but it's also $13 million which they got a center and could do some other moves yeah it's not one for one repl but if they didn't sign Gabe Davis they could have matched this contract you know I just felt like they had to do it because they couldn't sign Calvin Ridley on Monday because then the third round pick turns into the second round pick so like again all these things were aligned they almost thread the needle they just couldn't do it I I do think from a fantasy football perspective though that and maybe I'm gon to be totally off on this but as I sit here instantly reacting C Ry is in a worse spot here with the Titans than he would have been with the Jacksonville Jaguars definitely so DeAndre Hopkins or Calvin really straight up in fantasy circles that's going to be kind of thein seventh eighth round debate so yeah I can see it going either way I don't think that either of them are going to be overly sexy like you said we still think there's a chance the Titans can go with one of the stud wide receivers to fill that slot spot because they don't they might not trust TR Lon Burks but yeah I think for Fantasy I think the biggest winner here it's Christian Kirk number one then I would say Evan Ingram again like I thought they were going to take away those 100 receptions because that's not the most efficient use of targets but I mean at a certain point Evan Evan Ingram might be their second best pass game option right now yeah the the quietest 100 yard tight end reception season that we have ever seen okay maybe trayon Burks does Hit And I think there is a possibility for him to be like a role player Plus in the slot at the very least yeah yeah he's very different player than Tyler boy let's put it that way though sure but and they take like a left tackle at number seven okay this is a really good situation to evaluate will Lon a really good situation to evaluate will Lon if that's the case and I don't think the Titans are done like on the defens side of the ball we've seen them linked to lerus sne we've seen them linked to Justin Simmons like these are all Eric arm said's another player that Rand carthon uh knows quite well so like they still have money to spend they're being very smart about it early on uh I'm excited to see how it plays out because you know Brian Callan was the first hire in this coaching cycle he's somewhat of a total unknown because Zack Taylor was the head coach Zack Taylor was also the play caller but anything you read and just you know watching from the outside how they translated and transferred the offense from when Joe burrow went down to what Jake Browning stepped into not saying they made Jake Browning look like a superstar but they were winning games with the dude and putting points out there and that is difficult to do with that level of a talent yeah all eyes on the offensive line even if they draft that first round left tackle I would still be nervous about Tennessee and their offensive line last year was like a complete disaster so um yeah should be exciting for will Lis I think just two downfield guys in theory match up DeAndre Hopkins and Calvin Ridley with Will Lev's strengths and it's got to feel a little bit nice for Tennessee to ruin their Rivals plans inside the division and the other team that was linked with Calvin rley and offered him a boatload of money was the New England Patriots they are picking at number three certainly indications point to a quarterback the Marvin Harrison Jr stuff will always linger there but maybe the 34th overall selection would make more sense for a wide receiver than the number three overall selection um this almost feels like giving out you know your favorite band to the public before they hit it big and hay maybe you hate that I'm going to do this I'm gonna point to Pretty Ricky 213 who has you know people out there on Twitter claim they have sources this guy despite only having 6,400 Twitter followers I'll reveal him to you guys has been all over some deals a day or hours in front of Nash insiders or at least them releasing their information publicly the darno Mooney signing the Brian buron trade specifically to the New York Giants and then the hours as soon as 3 o'clock hit uh mentioning that a division rival was coming in for cin Bry and offered him 20 plus million per year again Pretty Ricky with an E 213 on Twitter has been the source so far yeah he's uh our generation's crack rock we I love these these Twitter accounts out of nowhere except seemingly totally accurate every single time at this point maybe they're the same person maybe they're the same person who knows who knows all right I mean incredible stuff so far hopefully you checked out our videos from the first two days of free agency that means you need to hit the Subscribe button hit the thumbs up on top of that be part of the I don't know 19% that have been watching our videos yikes and hitting that subscribe button look how close we are to 100,000 subscribers you you can be here when we hit that moment so do it all right we'll talk to next time [Music] a

Channel: Underdog Fantasy Football

Views: 26,530

Keywords: calvin ridley, tennessee titans, calvin ridley titans, nfl free agency, underdog fantasy, nfl news today, nfl free agency 2024, nfl news, nfl draft, nfl free agency news, nfl news 2024, american football explained, jacksonville jaguars, tennessee titans rumors, tennessee titans news, titans news, calvin ridley highlights, will levis

Id: 0ApGZ3BE7qE

Length: 16min 10sec (970 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 13 2024