Calvin Ridley doesn't just make Tennessee Titans better. He makes them fun | Estes
As a parent, I’ve learned you’ll get one of two types of reactions on Christmas morning. Both are great in their own way. Just a little different.
One is more measured. A long, thoughtful survey of the entire scene, appreciating and studying each gift, gradually realizing the quality of the haul. The other, a kid simply goes nuts, squealing in surprise and sprinting down the hallway at first sight of one coveted present.
The Tennessee Titans’ free agency class just shifted from one to the other.
Who wouldn’t want a Calvin Ridley?
After nibbling around the edges for two days, the Titans took a big ol’ bite Wednesday, agreeing to a massive deal with Ridley and – juiciest of all – snatching a star wide receiver away from Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars in a splashy move to stun the rest of the league.
The Titans are paying Ridley $92 million over four years with $50 million guaranteed, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
It’s expensive. It’s extravagant.
It’s outlandishly bold and carefree in a way the Titans haven’t always been with Adams ownership money, and especially at that position. Two years ago, A.J. Brown’s reps were playing hardball to try to get a similar deal, and the Titans instead traded him to the Philadelphia Eagles and drafted Treylon Burks.
A year later, the Titans all but ignored receiver during the draft and added DeAndre Hopkins in the summer when, frankly, they had no other choice. They were lucky he came available, even luckier that he liked country music and was willing to take a chance on a middling Titans team that wasn’t expected to win much.
And guess what? That team didn’t win much.
Titans in an arms race in AFC South
The rebuilding tag gets applied liberally in this league, but it usually fits, sooner or later. What’s happening now – and not just in Tennessee, but with the entire AFC South – is how the NFL operates in cycles. A bad division is collectively beefing up quickly because everyone has money, because everyone was able to draft a promising young quarterback still on a rookie deal (though the Jags are nearing decision time with Lawrence).
The Houston Texans, in particular, are spending like their window to contention has suddenly reopened.
That’s because it has. Thanks to C.J. Stroud.
One of the best things that had happened to the Titans in this free-agency period was that Derrick Henry, bound for Baltimore, hadn’t somehow gotten swept up in Houston’s spending spree along with his former teammates Denico Autry and Azeez Al-Shaair.
But the best thing to this point? That was Wednesday, and I’m not talking about Mason Rudolph.
What Calvin Ridley to Titans means for fans
General manager Ran Carthon has been checking boxes and making sound additions, but by Wednesday, impatience was starting to set in a little bit. A few singles and doubles. But no home run. There were rumors, but it felt like we were waiting on something big without knowing it was out there.
Ridley is a talent, no question, going back to his college career at Alabama. He’s also 29 years old and has played in only 22 games the past three seasons. This is not a can’t-miss deal. Whether Ridley proves worth the investment, we’ll find out in the coming years.
But for now, this wasn’t just about one deal. It was about what this deal said to Titans fans.
It said – as did the hire of Brian Callahan – that the Titans were serious about their offense again. About scoring points in bunches. About playing a more exciting brand of football and shedding the Henry approach that, while ruthlessly effective at times, looked like the Southeastern Conference in the 1980s.
The Titans didn’t just get better Wednesday.
They got more fun.
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Calvin Ridley to Tennessee Titans in NFL free agency boils down to 1 word
