Calvin Ridley Fantasy Overview

2024 Summary

Production & Fantasy Finishes

Ridley caught 64 balls for 1,017 yards and four TDs across 17 games last year. He ranked 35th among WRs in catches, 18th in yards, and 48th in TDs.

Ridley finished 27th at the position in total PPR points but just 42nd in points per game.

He was a volatile weekly producer, with three top-6 finishes but nine weeks at WR40 or worse.

Usage & Role

Ridley’s volatility sprang from his extreme downfield usage. His 16.0-yard average target depth was fourth highest among 84 WRs with 50+ targets last year. A little over 23% of his targets went 20+ yards downfield. Only five WRs had more total deep targets than Ridley’s 28.

He was also hurt by a lack of scoring opportunities. Ridley saw just two end-zone targets all season — tied for 108th among WRs. He tied for 24th at the position with 25 red-zone targets, but his 3.8 expected receiving TDs ranked just 59th.

Ridley finished 37th among WRs in expected PPR points per game.

Efficiency Metrics

Ridley caught a career-low 53.3% of his targets last year but averaged a career-high 15.9 yards per catch — no surprise considering the high average target depth.

Ridley was not particularly efficient on his deep targets. His 35.7% catch rate on targets 20+ yards downfield ranked 42nd among 72 qualifying WRs. He caught 58.7% of the rest of his targets.

Ridley’s 8.5 yards per target and 1.86 yards per route were his best marks since 2020, though. They ranked 35th and 31st, respectively, among 84 WRs with 50+ targets. Ridley finished 37th in Pro Football Focus receiving grade.

Offensive Context

Ridley played in a Titans passing game that ranked:

• 22nd in completion rate
• 26th in yards
• 22nd in yards per attempt
• 16th in TDs

QB Will Levis did not take a step forward in his second NFL season, and QB Mason Rudolph wasn’t any better.

It’s worth noting that Ridley got a volume and production boost after WR DeAndre Hopkins was traded to the Chiefs in October. Here are the per-game splits:

Six games with Hopkins

• 6.0 targets per game (19.8% share)
• 8.8 expected PPR points per game (WR60)
• 7.6 actual PPR points per game (WR73)

11 games without Hopkins

• 7.6 targets per game (24.1% share)
• 13.3 expected PPR points per game (WR26)
• 13.6 actual PPR points per game (WR28)

Historical Production & Trends

2024 marked Ridley’s second straight 1,000-yard season. He went for 1,016 yards and eight scores on 76 catches with the Jaguars in 2023, finishing 28th among WRs in PPR points per game.

Although his points per game dropped by 1.6 from 2023 to 2024, Ridley improved his yards per target, yards per route, and Pro Football Focus receiving grade.

Ridley topped 14 PPR points per game in three straight seasons from 2019 to 2021 before being suspended for all of 2022 for violating the league’s gambling policy.

Injury History

Ridley has played all 17 games in each of the last two seasons.

He missed four games with injury across his first four campaigns:

• 3 in 2019 with an abdominal injury
• 1 in 2021 with a left mid-foot injury

But Ridley revealed in 2023 that he played most of the 2020 season with a broken foot, which was initially diagnosed as a bone bruise. He had surgery on the foot in June 2021 but was ready for the start of that season.

2025 Expectations

Projected Role & Competition

Ridley returns to Tennessee as the clear No. 1 WR.

DeAndre Hopkins is gone, and the Titans only made minor additions to the pass-catching corps this offseason. They signed veteran WRs Tyler Lockett and Van Jefferson to cheap, one-year deals and nabbed WRs Chimere Dike and Elic Ayomanor in Round 4 of the draft. Tennessee also added TE Gunnar Helm in Round 4.

None of those guys is a legitimate threat to Ridley’s standing as target leader.

His role figures to change, though. NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe, citing conversations with HC Brian Callahan, said in May that the Titans want to scheme up more quick-hitting designed targets for Ridley this year. That would certainly help his catch rate and week-to-week consistency.

Supporting Cast

The Titans hope they’ve found a solution at QB in first overall pick Cam Ward. Although his mechanics and accuracy are inconsistent, Ward has plus arm talent and athleticism. He should be an immediate upgrade over last year’s duo of Will Levis and Mason Rudolph.

Ward was particularly good throwing deep at Miami last year, ranking fifth in the nation in Pro Football Focus’ deep passing grade. That should mesh well with Ridley, who is still the team’s best downfield target.

Coaching & Offensive Scheme

Brian Callahan returns for his second season as Titans HC. The year one results were ugly, with Tennessee ranking 26th or worse in points, total yards, and passing yards. But Callahan never had much of a chance with a QB room of Levis and Rudolph.

His results as Bengals OC from 2019 through 2023 were better. Cincinnati ranked top-16 in points in Callahan’s final three seasons, including seventh-place finishes in 2021 and 2022.

Last year’s Titans ranked 19th with a 56.4% pass rate. That was a shift from Callahan, whose teams registered a pass rate north of 60% in four of five seasons in Cincinnati.

If Ward proves ready, look for the Titans to throw at least a little more in 2025. We currently project them for a 58.7% pass rate.

Production & Efficiency Trends

Ridley will play most of the coming season at 30. (He turns 31 on December 20.) That’s past prime for WRs, but our aging-curve research says that we can still expect somewhere between 85-93% of peak production. That’s down just a little from 90-96% at age-29.

As mentioned earlier, Ridley’s yards per target and yards per route last year were his best marks since 2020.