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The New York Jets have made no secret that they are prepared to be aggressive this offseason when the right situation presents itself.
That right opportunity may very well include Atlanta Falcons wide receiver, Calvin Ridley.
Steve Wyche of the NFL Network was the first to raise the possibility of a potential separation earlier this offseason. Others have since joined the cause saying a trade could very well be in the cards this offseason.
This week another insider presented some new information that has significantly increased the Jets’ interest in a potential trade this offseason.
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An Absolute Gamechanger
One of the potential concerns with any team trading for Ridley this offseason centered around his contract status.
He was set to enter the last year of his contract in 2022 and thus any team trading for him would be acquiring a rental. That obviously would limit the potential trade market and would force an NFL team to make an impossible decision.
Do you trade for Ridley and ride it out this year? If he blows up do you hand him a blank check? Do you prematurely agree to a long-term contract extension as part of the trade without knowing what you’re getting?
So many questions and so few answers, that is of course until Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated shared a key update this week in his mailbag:
“Because of the timing of his departure from the team last year, his contract rolls over for 2022. He’s signed up for $1.97 million for next year and $11.12 million for ’23, a bargain for an in-prime wideout.”
***UPDATE***
Breer apologized on Twitter for misinterpreting the rule and clarified saying Ridley’s contract will not toll and he will be entering the final year of his contract in 2022.
To clarify because Ridley stepped away from the Falcons and only played in five games this past season, his contract now tolls.
So instead of heading into a contract year in 2022, the talented wideout now has two years left on his deal and that covers him through 2023.
Any team that acquires Ridley will now control his services for the next two seasons at a bargain-basement price of just over $13 million. That suddenly makes him even more attractive to potential NFL trade partners.
On top of that, teams would also still have the franchise tag in their back pockets so they could control him for the next three seasons if they chose.
Still a Major Unknown
Later in that same mailbag, Breer name-dropped the Jets as a team with a young quarterback heading into year two (Zach Wilson) that would make sense as a trade partner.
“It would be awfully tempting” to pair him with “a rising – and young – Elijah Moore.”
What is not to like about a proven 27-year-old stud who still has his best football ahead of him? This would be a no-brainer move for the Jets, except for one thing of course and that is the current status of Ridley.
He chose to step away from football “to focus” on his mental well-being, Ridley announced on Twitter back on October 31. He hasn’t Tweeted anything else since he released that statement.
We still haven’t heard any update from the player nor the Falcons on if and when he’ll return to the game. Obviously, before the Jets, or any NFL team for that matter, can execute a trade they would need clarity on what happened and whether he is fully ready to return.
If that situation is cleared up then this is exactly the kind of move the Jets put themselves in the position to pull off with their cap flexibility and abundance of draft assets.
This is a call that general manager Joe Douglas absolutely has to make and has the potential to elevate the Jets offense into a different stratosphere.
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