Tennessee Titans make their ‘pipe dream’ come true by signing Calvin Ridley
Tennessee general manager Ran Carthon called the Titans’ desire to add wide receiver Calvin Ridley in free agency this offseason “a pipe dream.”
When the free-agent signing period opened on March 13, Tennessee already had agreements with seven players, including a four-year, $50 million contract with center Lloyd Cushenberry, a three-year, $36 million contract with cornerback Chidobe Awuzie and a three-year, $21.75 million contract with running back Tony Pollard.
The Titans also were working on a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs for franchise-tagged L’Jarius Sneed that would require a new contract for the cornerback. That turned out to be a four-year, $76.4 million deal.
The bidding for Ridley’s services was reported to be a two-team race between his 2023 club, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the New England Patriots. But after Tennessee jumped in, the Titans reeled in Ridley on March 13, even though it required a contract bigger than any of its other free-agent signings had received – a four-year, $92 million deal.
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“He’s one of the better separators in the league,” Carthon said on Tuesday. “I had a moment last offseason in our courtship of (wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins), and a bunch of those guys were out in Arizona working out. And it was Ridley and it was Deebo Samuel and it was D-Hop, so all these guys were working out, and the consistent thing you heard out of Arizona was everybody was stealing tricks from Calvin, a guy who had been out a year, and everyone
was talking about how legit he looked. These were All-Pro, Pro Bowl players saying they were taking tools out of his bag to help their game, and then to actually see that translate in the season – him being able to get open, separate, his speed, his ability to track the ball — those things stand out.
