Calvin Ridley far surpassed his fourth-round average draft position and rankings last season. Being taken last year as the wide receiver sixteen, the consensus undervalued the second receiving option in Atlanta. Coming off of a breakout campaign in 2020, will he be able to keep up this level of production in 2021? Let’s take a deep dive into Calvin Ridley‘s 2020 season and project how he could finish at the end of the 2021 fantasy football season.
2021 Fantasy Football Player Previews: Calvin Ridley
| PPR Finish in 2020 | Half-PPR Finish in 2020 | Standard Finish in 2020 |
| WR #5 | WR #4 | WR #4 |
| PPR PPG Finish in 2020 | Half-PPR PPG Finish in 2020 | Standard PPG Finish in 2020 |
| WR #4 | WR #4 | WR #3 |
Calvin Ridley’s Production As A Whole in 2020
Calvin Ridley’s huge 2020 breakout season’s stats will make you salivate. In 16 games, Ridley had 143 targets (9.5 p/g), ranking seventh at wide receiver and 90 receptions (6.0 p/g) ranking 11th at wide receiver for 1,374 receiving yards (91.6 p/g) ranking fourth at wide receiver. Also bringing in 9 total touchdowns ranking 9th at wide receiver. Looking at some advanced metrics, we can see that Ridley had 15.3 yards per reception, ranking 18th at wide receiver, with the fifth-highest average cushion at the wide receiver position. It is safe to say Calvin Ridley played pretty well last year.
Calvin Ridley’s Production with and without Julio Jones in 2020
Last season Calvin Ridley made light work out of anyone trying to cover him. Regardless of if Julio Jones was in the game or hurt, Ridley was still putting up similar production. In 2020, on a per-game basis without Julio Jones, Ridley averaged 3.29 more receptions, 2.14 more receptions, and 33.17 more yards. The only metric in which Ridley was worse without Julio was in the touchdown category averaging .32 less per game. Personally, I do not believe Julio leaving really even matters for Ridley.
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The Falcons offseason was quite busy, making two huge changes to the team in the offseason. The biggest splash for the team was getting rid of Julio Jones. Jones was a staple in the Falcons offense for so long, but the team sadly did not have enough money to keep him. So with Jones gone, a huge hole is now left in the offense to fill. Which is exactly why the other change that happened in the NFL draft happened. Before the Julio Jones trade to the Titans, in the NFL draft, the Falcons selected super tight end Kyle Pitts out of Florida. This is why they felt safe enough to get rid of Julio. This also tells me that the Falcons are trying to win now because if they wanted to go full-on 76ers tank mode, they would have drafted a quarterback.
Calvin Ridley’s Outlook in 2021
When looking at the consensus rankings at the wide receiver position, most people have an obvious top three. That being Davante Adams, Stefon Diggs, and Tyreek Hill, in no real particular order. With so much hype for those three, my thoughts are that Calvin Ridley has the highest chance of becoming the number one wide receiver in fantasy this season outside of that group. Calvin Ridley is on a Falcons team that is forced to throw the ball all game long. Without a strong defense, this tends to be the case for teams. In 2019, the Falcons slung the pigskin at a 66.97% clip, ranking first in the NFL, and in 2020 they threw it 62.06% of the time. This caused Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan to lead the league in passing attempts last season and finish top three in 2019. When a team is throwing the ball as much as the Falcons, it should be easy to determine that the number one wide receiver on the team will perform strongly. Especially in the number one wide receiver is as skilled as Calvin Ridley, and the quarterback is as good as Matt Ryan. I have said this before, and I will say it again: volume is key in fantasy football, and Calvin Ridley will be a volume monster in 2021 fantasy football.
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