Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Calvin Ridley will take it easy at training camp following a toe injury he suffered this week, according to head coach Doug Pederson. Ridley will be a limited participant in practice until he’s fully recovered.
Prior to suffering the minor injury, the former Falcons star was running routes that set Jaguars fans ablaze on social media. It’s clear that despite significant time away from the league, Ridley is still just as lethal as he was before his suspension.
This is not the first time since his return that the Jaguars have had to put the brakes on him. During OTAs, Pederson explained why they were limiting him.
“He’s the type of guy that you have to pump the brakes with,” Pederson said. “He wants to go so much and so fast and so hard out there at practice that we just have to pump the brakes and just tell him, ‘Hey, now’s not the time.’”
Ridley has also admitted how hard it is for him to modulate himself to match the coaches’ plan for him.
“I only really know one speed, but I got to gradually get my body back to football, like football and be peaking into the season, not out here [in OTAs],” Ridley said. “Of course I expected I would be a little rusty because you can’t really get ready for this. I mean the heat, the helmet. Just running every day is what it really is because you get sore. I’ve got to make sure I build and not be sore in the season.”
Ridley: ‘I’m a 1,400-yard type of player’
Not all NFL fans will remember how dominant Ridley was prior to his injury and suspension. He plans to remind them.
“I am a 1,400-yard type of player, God is going to determine what type of stats I am going to have,” Ridley said last month. “Football is serious. I mean, you don’t just play 17 games straight and think you’re going to be in every one of them and playing healthy in all of them. So what I’m saying is I am a 1,400 yard receiver with a broken foot.”
Through 49 games played, Ridley has 248 receptions for just over 3,300 receiving yards and 28 touchdowns. In 2020, his targets shot up with the Falcons. He caught 90 passes for 1,374 yards and nine touchdowns. That earned him a spot on the AP’s All-Pro second team that year.
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