The Jacksonville Jaguars made the latest in shocking trades Tuesday, landing former Pro Bowl receiver Calvin Ridley from the Atlanta Falcons. The move comes about an hour before the NFL's trade deadline passes. According to ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter, the deal is for very complex draft compensation stipulations.
“Here is the trade the Falcons and Jaguars now are finalizing, per sources. Jaguars get wide receiver Calvin Ridley. Falcons get a 2023 5th-round pick and and a conditional 2024 4th that can rise on… conditions,” he tweeted.
If the Jaguars end up giving Calvin Ridley a contract extension, the pick will move all the way up to a second rounder. If not, but Ridley reaches certain incentives from a production standpoint, it will become a third round pick. But if he simply remains on the roster, is not extended and does not hit incentives, it's remains a fourth round pick for Ridley.
Ridley has not been seen on the football field since he left the Falcons for mental health reasons during the 2021-2022 season. He played in just five games that season. It was later determined that Ridley had bet on the Falcons during a five-day period in November of 2021. He was subsequently suspended for the entirety of the 2022-2023 season for those transgressions.
In an interesting twist of irony, one of the games he reportedly bet on was the Jaguars-Falcons game in 2021.
Ridley is still on his rookie deal, having been drafted in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
The Jaguars will not get to see him on the field until next season. That will be almost two years removed from him being on an NFL field. So, there are no guarantees he will be helpful. But if he is anything close to what we saw previously, Trevor Lawrence should be very excited.