Calvin Ridley: No Rust After Gambling Ban

Calvin Ridley: No Rust After Gambling Ban

Should fans/fantasy managers worry about Calvin Ridley being rusty after his season-long ban for gambling? Have no fear because Calvin Ridley says he’s him.

Ridley says he’s totally back to normal and there is no need to worry about him being rusty this year.

“I’m him,” Ridley said after Thursday’s training camp practice. “I’m Calvin Ridley. Yes, sir. … Still getting better, but, nah man, I haven’t lost a step.

“You can ask anyone that’s around here.”

I don’t know if anyone saw any practice footage of Ridley but he does look pretty damn good. Check this out. Pretty eye-opening seeing Zay Jones do a rep and then having Ridley follow him. It’s just one clip but the explosion looks unchanged.

Route-work

Doug Pederson standing right at the end of the route. pic.twitter.com/Yiy1tmMD8C

— Jamal St. Cyr (@JStCyrTV) July 26, 2023

Trevor Lawrence backed up his teammate too having some high praise for the former Falcons wide receiver.

“Just watching him [and] the way he runs, there are not many guys like that, especially in and out of his breaks,” Lawrence said. “He’s just really crafty, has great ball skills, and you haven’t even seen it yet because we’re not in pads and we’re not full contact, but I think after the catch he’s really good too.

“In spring we were still kind of working him in so we didn’t get a ton of reps. So now that we’re at camp, we’re full go. I’m excited just to continue to build on that.”

I’m expecting a big year from Ridley in 2023. This is the best quarterback he’s ever had. If anything, we should be excited that he had the year off. We’re talking about a former first round pick out of Alabama that just had a whole year to not get hit. That’s while now playing with Trevor Lawrence. I like Ridley’s odds to be a fantasy darling in 2023.