If you feel bad about missing Ridley, cheer yourself up with his starring role in this compilation of Jags WRs running out of bounds or dropping balls costing Lawrence TDs
View: https://twitter.com/Ihartitz/status/1744781890182054242
I wanted to spend on Ridley, but the guy definitely has holes in his game that were pointed out a bunch here.
So, he was targeted 132 times last season, 17th most in the league. Of the 16 guys ahead of him, only 2 - Pittman and AJ Brown - ran less screen routes or from the slot. Not the end of the world, but a little bit of a bummer that he's only able to work outside.
But the reason Pittman and Brown can succeed as (nearly) exclusive X receivers is because they have the ability to get separation, particularly against press. Ridley just can't.
Football 101 for those that aren't aware: you always need at least 7 men on the LOS. The X receivers are the receivers that are on the LOS, while the slot guys - generally - are off the LOS by a yard or two. This means that the X receiver is going to have to work much harder to get separation because they don't have the same buffer to build up momentum as the slot receivers do. This issue bears out in the stats for Ridley.
Going back to Pittman and Brown - the other near exclusive X receivers - they both have almost identical YAC/Reception (4.6 and 4.8). Ridley's is nearly half that (2.7). He isn't able to create space on the outside, which is going to lead to a lot tighter windows. That means you better be able to win those battles for contested balls...Ridley doesn't. Ridley's contested catch rate was 36%, while Brown and Pittman were able to sit at 45% and 53%. In fact, of the 37 players with at least 100 targets, Ridley ranked 29th. I'm sure that lack of separation is partly what lead to him ranking 35th out of those same 37 for drop rate.
I think Ridley would make a great #2 receiver. But if your #1 guy can't beat press, doesn't move around the field, can't get separation, and drops a shit ton of balls? I'm not in love with spending $23M a year for his age 30-34 season. At $12-15M a year? Fine. But with an aging Ridley and Hopkins, I expect their to be alot of throws into tight windows in Tennessee.