One player that I’m really in on for the 2020 fantasy season is Calvin Ridley. Not only do I think Ridley is a special player (and miles better than DJ Moore who was somehow taken ahead of him) but I believe 2020 is the year Ridley has a monster fantasy season. It’s time to start valuing Ridley as a star in fantasy before he burns you.
More so than anything, the opportunity for Ridley will be there like never before. Austin Hooper led all tight ends in targets during the first 8 weeks of the season (when he was healthy). Mohamed Sanu was also traded midseason. Hayden Hurst and Russell Gage are not going to fully replace either of those player. It’s going to be the Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley show in a super pass happy offense that will be trailing constantly.
Where do I sign? Ridley has top 10 fantasy potential at the wide receiver position. Like I said, the opportunity for more targets is going to be there. On a limited sample, we have seen what Ridley looks like when he gets his targets.
From a skill set standpoint, we know that Ridley is fast and one of the best route runners in the NFL. BUT… do you realize just how good Ridley is when he gets those targets? The former first round pick from Alabama has 8 career games of 8 or more targets (something that should happen more this season based on the departures we talked about earlier). In those games, Ridley has 56 receptions for 822 yards and 9 touchdowns. Did you hear me ok?
8 targets a game is not a crazy number. That’s 128 a year which seems more than doable. Ridley would basically be the best receiver in football if he were to continue that pace. Not likely to happen but you get my point. We need to start thinking of Ridley as an elite fantasy option. The skillset is there. The targets have not. 2020 will be different.
