It's Time For a Cope Meeting For All Us Calvin Ridley Fantasy Football Drafters

Jonathan Bachman. Getty Images.

Speaking on behalf of all my fellow Calvin Ridley hypers - we will always have those great memories of him running sick routes in summer camp. We even have the Week 1 confirmation bias victory lap when Ridley caugth 8/11 for 101 and a score. NO ONE can take that away from us! But Thursday Night was just a pathetic and perplexing showing when you consider the Jaguars were moving the ball through the air like butter through knife. And all Ridley could provide our bone dry moths was a pitiful 5 total recieving yards and one rush attempt for an additional zero yards. 

Absolutely putting Ridley down as a fantasy Troll of the Year candidate. The worst part is you just know the moment you bench him he'll go off for 10/135/2. Because that's how Trolls of the Year work. We have no choice fam. We're sticking Ridley right out there again in Week 8 and plugging our nose. 

In light of this reality - I looked for any indication of hope for Ridley draftes in a clear desperate act of cope. The table below shows all wide receivers since 1999 who had 11 or more targets and over 100 receiving yards in week 1 sorted by how many yards receiving they had from Week 1 - 7. The two columns on the right show how many receiving yards and touchdowns each player had the rest of the season. 

Not gonna lie. I found little hope and little cope. 

First things first. Let's pay some respect to Julio Jones in the third row (2018). King of end zone celebacy no matter how hard he flirts. But back to the matter at hand. Only 2020 Russell Gage and 2003 Donte' Stallworth were bigger Week 1 teases than Ridley out of the 47 listed receivers. 

But these guys were nowhere near the fantasy prospect as Ridley was so by a long shot. The company Ridley has at the bottom of this list is like seeing a Jaguar parked in the econ airport parking lot on the roof with the beaters wearing sunbaked birdshit on their windshields. The two best players anywhere near Ridley in 2023 is old-man Reggie Wayne in the Curtis Painter season and old-man Larry Fitzgerald in Kyler's tough rookie season.  At least Jordan Mattews got seven touchdowns rest of season. Is that something we Calvin Ridley drafters can hang our hats on? "At least we still have 2015 Jordan Matthews upside!" 

I take back what I said before. That's some good cope right there. 

But wait a minute. Christian Kirk is also down in this cellar from just last year. Makes me wonder. Is this all really a Trevor Lawrence issue instead of a Ridley issue? I'd love to say Ridley has the talent to outperform Kirk's 650/4 in Weeks 8-18 of 2022 but the fact that Kirk is all the sudden Lawrence's guy this season doesn't help much.

I don't know guys. I'd love to find any semblance of anything to get me excited about starting Ridley in Week 8. If we're lucky he won't get out targeted by a punt returner again, but let's not get crazy. 

- Jeffro