Calvin Ridley had a quiet year at EverBank Stadium in 2023.
He caught 31 passes for 329 yards and two touchdowns in eight games in Jacksonville last season. He was held to 40 yards or fewer in seven of those games.
He’s hoping for better results when he returns to play against his former team on Sunday. And Tennessee’s top receiver has some extra motivation from the teams’ previous matchup, a 10-6 loss to the Jaguars three weeks ago.
“I got to get them; I want to get them,” Ridley said Thursday. “… I want to beat them. They talked (trash) to me last time. I really wasn’t listening, but they stopped me a couple times and I just heard chirping. I want to chirp.”
Ridley has 56 receptions for 857 yards and four touchdowns after signing a four-year, $92 million contract with the Titans in March. The deal included $50 million guaranteed.
He caught seven passes for 59 yards in the first meeting with Jacksonville (3-12). He also made a mistake when he ran out of bounds after gaining 2 yards on a third-and-5 play with just over a minute remaining.
Ridley probably could have picked up the first down, but he stepped out at the 9-yard line, leaving the Titans with a tough fourth-down try. Will Levis threw an incomplete pass on the next play.
Ridley has a chance to make up for that on Sunday, now with a different quarterback. The Titans (3-12) have since switched from Levis to Mason Rudolph for the remainder of coach Brian Callahan’s first season in Nashville.
Ridley has 21 receptions for 336 yards and one touchdown in Rudolph’s four starts.
“He’s a great player, a special player,” Jaguars cornerback Montaric Brown said of Ridley. “He can take it the long haul every play. You’ve just got to keep your eyes on him, and you’ve got to know where he’s at. Man, they’re looking for him to get the ball, and we’ve got to stop him.”
Ridley’s return is one of the few storylines in a game with no playoff implications, except for determining the 2025 NFL draft order.
“Calvin is a great guy on and off the field,” Jaguars defensive end Josh Hines-Allen said. “The way he plays is the way he practices. Off the field, he’s probably one of the best guys in the locker room; he’s not a cancer to the team. I’ve respected Calvin as a person and a player, to see the hard work that he’s put in from the trials that he’s gone through.”
