Ilov80s
Footballguy
Why should he be? I just think he was always best cast an a #2
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WR Calvin Ridley, TEN (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Faust
- Start date
FarFromHome
Footballguy
I actually think the #2 to a good #1 is the perfect spot for him. Maybe when Julio left the #1 expectation is what started last year's issues. Who knows. Maybe he is destined to always be a Robin and not Batman. If thats the case, I massively undervalued Kirk for this year.
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Ilov80s
Footballguy
There was the year Julio got hurt and Atlanta threw the ball at insane levels which led to Ridley having a massive year. That seemed to set an expectation for him that at no other point has he ever shown to be able to live up to.
Football Jones
Footballguy
Football Jones
Footballguy
We’ll see if Ds adjust. They clearly think Ridley is the priority right now.
He easily could’ve had several more TDs…just missed some. I have no concerns about Ridley being a stud, but like most of my views, my opinion leans towards dynasty.
I think the Jags will get him going, but maybe it’s not the best fit. Too early to say. Either way, Ridley is going to have plenty of suitors this offseason.
He easily could’ve had several more TDs…just missed some. I have no concerns about Ridley being a stud, but like most of my views, my opinion leans towards dynasty.
I think the Jags will get him going, but maybe it’s not the best fit. Too early to say. Either way, Ridley is going to have plenty of suitors this offseason.
Sometimes it's out of the players hands: https://twitter.com/billbarnwell/status/1717028039807136142
FarFromHome
Footballguy
Can't explain it but I still believe in Ridley. Tried no buy low with no luck past few days.
zamboni
Footballguy
That’s wild - just about everything on the outside. But when you have two other good slot options in Kirk and Engram, that’s what happens. Too many mouths to feed is indeed a big issue for Ridley. Plus, let’s face it - Trevor has not taken the step forward everyone expected.
Biabreakable
Footballguy
Yeah as you can see from this everything is outside so far, whereas before Ridley was being targeted in a more diversified way.
The Jaguars offense is easier to defend by them not mixing up the types of routes and areas of the field with all of their receivers, instead having all of those inside routes going to Kirk and Ingram and all the outside ones going to Ridley.
I intend to because of the matchup and how top WR's have fared against them but judging from Pederson's comments I'm not expecting any adjustments either. This is his role. Clear out guy for the underneath options, no movement or overt attempt to get him involved, content letting him be the focus of the defense and open things up for others.
I think our only hope as fantasy owners is if Ridley starts chirping about his role/usage. Frankly I can't recall a player who has ever deserved to chirp more especially considering how important this season is to him but I have heard nothing from him, have noticed zero on field negative body language. I've never been more disapointed in someone's professionalism and idea of team concept, lol.
Biabreakable
Footballguy
It's bad football by design though.
Say you are a cornerback or defensive coordinator and you see this.
The DC then know what coverages to call to put the defense in plays that will succeed.
The corner know what leverage to play with and where their help will be to be able to cheat on the route as there are not other threats.
Agree. I watched their last game on the All 22 and it just confirmed what I thought when I watched it originally, stunning lack of creativity.
Ridley is almost being used more like a Desean Jackson type. Just run outside and try to clear things out. I get that Engram and Kirk work that short middle of the field well but so does Ridley and why they don't mix it up a little more is baffling to me. What I distinctly recall from Ridley's last season in Atlanta was him running crossers and slants and his quickness was eye opening. As a deep threat only guy he's kind of meh, smaller and just ok speed. It's a strange role for him to be stuck in IMO.
Biabreakable
Footballguy
Yes. These are also the harder routes to win as the defender can use the sideline to their advantage if they are not worried about getting caught out of position by in breaking routes.
It's also harder throws for the QB to make.
I'm starting Rashee Rice over him.
Gjallarhorn
Footballguy
Is it insane to start this guy this week? He has had exactly two non-awful games in the first 7, and we saw what his floor was last week. Is this guy a top 40 WR, regardless of matchup?
Biabreakable
Footballguy
It's not insane to start him. The Steelers are basically a neutral match up.
I do think based on his talent he is a top 40 WR however he isn't being used in a way to maximize his abilities.
Well I mean most people don't have all that at WR in a 12 team league
Right. That’s why I said it was a 10 team. Was a disclaimer.
Jmiller21kg
Footballguy
Saw an interesting stat that said his target share is 4th on the team against man coverage. 4th! Saints ranked 2nd in league in man coverage %. His two best games came against the team dead last in man coverage % (Colts) and one middle of the pack (Bills). Do we maybe have a trend of him performing better against zone?
Steelers rank top 10 on man coverage rate just FYI.
Steelers rank top 10 on man coverage rate just FYI.
Biabreakable
Footballguy
That's interesting. Could you link the article?
This begs some questions. What is Ridleys success rate vs man and zone for his career?
While what you are talking about could be a trend (looks like one) that FF managers could try to use to unlock when he might have more favorable match ups, I think the types of routes he is running as pointed out by Menobrown is a greater concern that the type of coverage.
I think Ridley would get open more often vs man coverage if the routes they asked him to run were more diversified.
If the types of routes remain the same the corners and defenses will still have a unfair advantage vs Ridley in zone coverage as well, because those zone assignments still turn into man coverage at some point on those types of routes.
As far as the targets go yes Lawrence will target other players more vs man coverage because those routes over the middle are more man coverage beaters than the types of routes they are having Ridley run are.
Eta - after a quick search I found out that Ridley was the 9th best WR in terms of yards per route run vs man coverage in 2020.
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No afraid I don't think it's that simple and will hit you with the following bullet points:
*He played against the Colts twice and did not only did very little in the second match-up but really very little in the last 6 quarters against them.
*If you want a link to his two good games it might be Zay Jones. He's played 3 games this year and two of them were the good Ridley games. Normally I'd think that was just a fluke but Pederson's comment the other day indicated otherwise. That comment was that when they got Zay back he would help open things up and he followed that up, unprompted, by saying they still expected defenses to roll their coverage/attention to Ridley.
*Jags are taking what the defense gives them, not trying to force things. I recall seeing a tweet from Jags beat writer John Shipley the morning of the London game against the Falcons when he said if Engram and Kirk don't combine for 20+ targets something to the extent of bad coaching/they are doing something wrong. They combined for 20 targets. Ridley got two. It's where the matchups dictated they go.
*Somewhat along the lines of trying to play the matchups they want to get rid of the ball quickly. I believe last week Trevor had second fastest release and first or second lowest aDot in the league. I mentioned up thread I watched that last game on the All 22 and I can honestly say Trevor rarely looked Ridley's way because he was laser focused on the shorter stuff and getting the ball out quickly. Ridley was just getting his cardio in, running deeper clear out routes they are not trying to mess with giving time to develop.
*I'll leave everyone with something positive I read as it relates to this week however, the following comments are tweets I'll link and not my comments:
Like this Calvin Ridley bounce back spot:Ridley leads in target share (24%) and air yards share (43%) over Christian Kirk (17% TS | 22% AY) against single-high coverage looksThe Steelers play single-high at the 7th-highest rate and are giving up the 3rd-most yards per game to outside receivers (147.7)
Perfect get-right matchup for Calvin Ridley. Steelers are 1 of 10 teams with a press coverage rate below 50%.Press coverage has really bothered Ridley.Facing press- 14.2% target per route run rate- 0.89 yards per route runNot pressed- 24.2% TPRR- 2.06 YPRR
ohio#1eaglesfan
Footballguy
12 team league and I got Diggs, Theilen, Pickens, Dell and Bourne. Ridley will be on my bench for the foreseeable future. Drafted all those cats except for Dell and Bourne. Sitting pretty in first place.
kdpatron15
Footballguy
feels like they will force feed him this week is my hunch.
Sure but if it's him or the offense/scheme is a major talking point.
I think you mainly play dynasty but in redraft the area he was going, within a few picks of the 2/3 turn. it's not even been that bad vs the other options, if that makes anyone feel better.
In FFPC leagues using the month of August the players with ADP beween 19-29 included 5 WR's, 3 RB's and 3 QB's. The QB's have been fine(Allen, Hurts, Mahomes). Out of the 8 RB's and WR's the biggest "hits" are Henry and Olave who is about 3 PPG over Ridley. An area which includes Devonta, Waddle, Tee, Jacobs and Gibbs along with those mentioned.
So in my leagues if you were picking in those spots you pretty much either went with a QB, pushed up Metcalf/K Allen/Hockenson anywhere from a quarter to a full round (I got both of those WR's in the middle 4th of multiple leagues in this contest) or you are rangng from mildy(Henry/Olave) to extremely (Higgins) disappointed in your selection. Tough area of the draft to hit especially if you are were not takin safety net of a QB.
ETA-I should not have included Metcalf really as a success. If you pushed him up to the mid second/third range you'd be at least mildy disappointed.
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zoonation
Footballguy
why? they are winning with the current game script.
zamboni
Footballguy
We can have a whole thread of off season darlings that fell way short: Ridley, Jeudy, Dotson. Oddly I have all of them.
But I digress…Dawg Pound 69
Footballguy
If Zay Jones misses the game and Ridley still doesn't put up numbers, then we all need to bench him. Steelers are 30th against WR's.
Gjallarhorn
Footballguy
Regardless of Ridley goes off, this is the right decision. That floor that Ridley displayed last week is sketchy AF
Ridley is a better start with Zay playing I think
Biabreakable
Footballguy
That's my thought as well, that Zones might be running these outside routes Ridley is and having him back could free up Ridley to run a more diverse route tree.
Which ultimately would help both players and the whole passing offense because coverage focus would still be on Ridley drawing defenders away from Jones and allowing Ridley to win more routes as well.
Something they should be doing with Ridley/Kirk route combinations in Jones absence, but have not been.
zoonation
Footballguy
He’s better when Jones is playing.
Well he's out....
TampaMike19
Footballguy
Heads telling me no, Heart is telling me Steelers are getting abused down the field which is his specialty right now. Not sure what to do.
He was triple covered. Bizarre decision to throw it
Long Ball Larry
Footballguy
True, but at least he has been more involved today
TommyKramer9
Footballguy
This guy sucks!!!
leftcoastheel
Footballguy
Gabe Davis has good games.
FarFromHome
Footballguy
Although I own zero shares it wasn't for the lack of trying. I thought he was locked in as a top 10 wr before the season. Big whiff. I apologize to my fans.
