Drafting a WR in the first two rounds instead of tagging or signing Ridley is an option and you can still spend two picks on OL and sign a FA center or guard if you wish.

The only thing that may hinder that sort of approach is if we bring in one of these blitz heavy/man coverage D coordinators we have been interviewing. If we do that - we will be using capital on man coverage capable secondary players.

I think we should be signing ridley AND drafting a wr in the first 2 rounds. We need an alpha in that room. And we need to get younger.

Waste of capital to do both IMO. 

Capable receivers is number 6 or 7 on our list of issues. 

I'm good with wanting to draft and develop receivers to manage cap and roster build - but if you are keeping Ridley, you can't blow an early pick on WR unless a superstar falls in your lap and free agency went better than you ever dreamed.

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About if Ridley wants to be here, You can’t read into his enthusiasm judging him when he said he likes and not loves. Anyways, the jags will NOT find anyone better for the 2024 season than #0. First of all, Balkie isn’t skilled enough to draft someone better. Second, I doubt we land someone like Higgins. That being the case, I would sign him and see if he can play even better in 24.

I agree that it would be hard to find someone better if we picked in the 3rd round. It is possible that a really good receiver could be found in the 2nd, however, due to the quality depth of the 2024 receiving class. Your point about Baalke's lack of skill in finding the right guy is true. Therefore, the decision should depend on these factors:

1. How does Trevor feel about Ridley? If he lacks confidence due to the mistakes Ridley made and just doesn't feel strongly about keeping him, let him go. You save the 2nd round pick and whatever salary Ridley would be making (likely close to $20 million/year).

2. Does Ridley even want to be here? If he's not really that enthusiastic, he's likely to take the best offer in free agency and that won't be the Jaguars.


My guess is that the team lets Ridley walk and replaces him with a free agent or high draft pick ( round 1 or 2). My hope is that Trevor and the team are actually more positive about Ridley and they sign him after the new year starts ( mid- March) to a reasonable deal. They would then keep the valuable 2nd round pick and likely use it to upgrade the offensive or defensive line- depending on what they do in free agency.

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Ridley is not true #1 receiver. He is a plus #2 receiver. He seemed to read choice routes different than TL all season. This resulted in TL not being able to "throw him open" or risk interception. The deptyh of his routes seemed to be a minor issue, a 10 yard out winding up 12 or 8 yards. This could be rust?

Another issue I have is besides Engram all our guys are the same, 5'10'' to 6'1', weight 200lbs, and run 4.5 or so forty with a 1.5 10 yard split. My point is we need a couple taller heavier fast guys , especially down near the end zone. I am looking for 6'4''- 6'5'', 220+lbs, 4/5-4.55 forty and as close to a 1.5 10 yard split. Yea, what wish. I do believe I just described tee Higgins and Calvin Johnson, Julio Jones

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A new broom always sweeps clean.

Ridley is not true #1 receiver. He is a plus #2 receiver. He seemed to read choice routes different than TL all season.  This resulted in TL not being able to "throw him open" or risk interception. The deptyh of his routes seemed to be a minor issue, a 10 yard out winding up 12 or 8 yards. This could be rust? 

Another issue I have is besides Engram all our guys are the same,  5'10'' to 6'1', weight 200lbs, and run 4.5 or so forty with a 1.5 10 yard split. My point is we need a couple taller heavier fast guys , especially down near the end zone. I am looking for 6'4''- 6'5'', 220+lbs, 4/5-4.55 forty and as close to a 1.5 10 yard split.  Yea, what wish. I do believe I just described tee Higgins and Calvin Johnson, Julio Jones

Calvin and Julio are in an entirely different class of athlete than Higgins is. Don't mean that as a slight to Higgins, but Calvin and Julio were freaks of nature for their H/W/S. Julio ran 4.39 with a broken foot.

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Ridley is not true #1 receiver. He is a plus #2 receiver. He seemed to read choice routes different than TL all season.  This resulted in TL not being able to "throw him open" or risk interception. The deptyh of his routes seemed to be a minor issue, a 10 yard out winding up 12 or 8 yards. This could be rust? 

Another issue I have is besides Engram all our guys are the same,  5'10'' to 6'1', weight 200lbs, and run 4.5 or so forty with a 1.5 10 yard split. My point is we need a couple taller heavier fast guys , especially down near the end zone. I am looking for 6'4''- 6'5'', 220+lbs, 4/5-4.55 forty and as close to a 1.5 10 yard split.  Yea, what wish. I do believe I just described tee Higgins and Calvin Johnson, Julio Jones

Calvin and Julio are in an entirely different class of athlete than Higgins is. Don't mean that as a slight to Higgins, but Calvin and Julio were freaks of nature for their H/W/S. Julio ran 4.39 with a broken foot.

I agree they are. My point is we need a mix of receivers. I believe Cooks was suppose to be one of them. Besides Ridley had his best years with a guy like I described on the other side... (Julio)  Like I said by himself Ridley is a plus #2 receiver.Not a pan on Ridley it just is what he is.

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A new broom always sweeps clean.

Calvin and Julio are in an entirely different class of athlete than Higgins is. Don't mean that as a slight to Higgins, but Calvin and Julio were freaks of nature for their H/W/S. Julio ran 4.39 with a broken foot.

I agree they are. My point is we need a mix of receivers. I believe Cooks was suppose to be one of them. Besides Ridley had his best years with a guy like I described on the other side... (Julio)  Like I said by himself Ridley is a plus #2 receiver.Not a pan on Ridley it just is what he is.

To be fair, Ridley had his best season when Julio missed half of the year and Ridley became the #1.

But I get what you're saying. We lack a big 50/50 ball WR. Higgins is exactly that, but he's likely to command some pretty big $$ in FA.

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I agree they are. My point is we need a mix of receivers. I believe Cooks was suppose to be one of them. Besides Ridley had his best years with a guy like I described on the other side... (Julio)  Like I said by himself Ridley is a plus #2 receiver.Not a pan on Ridley it just is what he is.

To be fair, Ridley had his best season when Julio missed half of the year and Ridley became the #1.

But I get what you're saying. We lack a big 50/50 ball WR. Higgins is exactly that, but he's likely to command some pretty big $$ in FA.

Yeah if Ridley commands $17m and Higgins is $18m Kirk is at $24m next year. Unless he restructures. That is a lot of cap between just a few WRs

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No Fun

It all comes down to what type of money Rid wants. He had *four 100-yard games and scored 8 TDs and finished with 1016 yards. He also had 2 games where he scored 2 or more TDs.

*Ridley also had 5 games where he caught 3 passes or less and 4 games with 2 catches or less.

He’s probably going to get something like $13m to $18m per. He may also want a multi year contract for stability. Our piggy bank is light right now.

They probably gotta look at Kirk’s deal and likely tear that one up to open up more funds.

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Seems to me Calvin Ridley is like any other free agent WR right now. He's a free agent. We can use that money to sign any free agent. In fact, we can use that money to sign a free agent CENTER. That would probably benefit this offense a lot more than a free agent WR.

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Seems to me Calvin Ridley is like any other free agent WR right now.  He's a free agent.  We can use that money to sign any free agent.  In fact, we can use that money to sign a free agent CENTER.  That would probably benefit this offense a lot more than a free agent WR.

Yeah I hope they go vet at center for sure.

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No Fun

One of the takeaways from Baalke's presser is he was very complimentary of Ridley and it felt like there is a strong interest in retaining him if they can. However, the tag seems destined for Allen. I would expect Ridley to want to test free agency and not sign anything until then, but remaining with the same team and same scheme and same QB may be appealing to him in our efforts to re-sign him.

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One of the takeaways from Baalke's presser is he was very complimentary of Ridley and it felt like there is a strong interest in retaining him if they can.  However, the tag seems destined for Allen.  I would expect Ridley to want to test free agency and not sign anything until then, but remaining with the same team and same scheme and same QB may be appealing to him in our efforts to re-sign him.

And it's in our interest for him to sign after free agency starts, so he's likely to test the market anyway.

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“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato

One of the takeaways from Baalke's presser is he was very complimentary of Ridley and it felt like there is a strong interest in retaining him if they can.  However, the tag seems destined for Allen.  I would expect Ridley to want to test free agency and not sign anything until then, but remaining with the same team and same scheme and same QB may be appealing to him in our efforts to re-sign him.

Not to say that any of his remarks were insincere - but letting the player know that he is valued in a system that wants him back is smart when other teams will be going after a limited number of productive receivers about 7 weeks from now.

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Drafting a WR in the first two rounds instead of tagging or signing Ridley is an option and you can still spend two picks on OL and sign a FA center or guard if you wish.

The only thing that may hinder that sort of approach is if we bring in one of these blitz heavy/man coverage D coordinators we have been interviewing. If we do that - we will be using capital on man coverage capable secondary players.

I think we should be signing ridley AND drafting a wr in the first 2 rounds. We need an alpha in that room. And we need to get younger.

So you want us to sign Ridley and spend a 1st on a WR.

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I think we should be signing ridley AND drafting a wr in the first 2 rounds. We need an alpha in that room. And we need to get younger.

So you want us to sign Ridley and spend a 1st on a WR.

I could agree, but we don't have the o-line to fully utilize all the skill players we have now. Why use an early pick on a toy we can't use?  Seems the cart is before the horse doing that.

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A new broom always sweeps clean.

One of the takeaways from Baalke's presser is he was very complimentary of Ridley and it felt like there is a strong interest in retaining him if they can.  However, the tag seems destined for Allen.  I would expect Ridley to want to test free agency and not sign anything until then, but remaining with the same team and same scheme and same QB may be appealing to him in our efforts to re-sign him.

Not to say that any of his remarks were insincere - but letting the player know that he is valued in a system that wants him back is smart when other teams will be going after a limited number of productive receivers about 7 weeks from now.

Yeah I think those things I mentioned coupled with the facts that we traded for him and there is no state income tax here and I don't think we're going to have to outbid everyone.  I'm not suggesting he's going to take a significant cut from whatever his highest offer is to stay here, I just don't think we necessarily need to be the highest offer for him to re-sign is all and I don't think his season warrants some market setting deal.  Who knows though?  Some players just don't care for small market Jacksonville.

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To be fair, Ridley had his best season when Julio missed half of the year and Ridley became the #1.

But I get what you're saying. We lack a big 50/50 ball WR. Higgins is exactly that, but he's likely to command some pretty big $$ in FA.

Yeah if Ridley commands $17m and Higgins is $18m Kirk is at $24m next year. Unless he restructures. That is a lot of cap between just a few WRs

Why are people expecting Ridley to be happy with under $20 million per year?   Franchise tag would net him 20+ million per.

If we're paying over $20 million per, I'd hope it'd be for Tee Higgins.  But I'd understand if we franchised Ridley's 30 year old tail for 1 more season.

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Black Jaguar: Yeah, it's a thing.

It was always the Jags!!!!

I just based the salary guess from here
https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/...eiver/all/

But yeah I don't think we can get Higgins and keep Ridley and Kirk at 24.

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No Fun

Yeah if Ridley commands $17m and Higgins is $18m Kirk is at $24m next year. Unless he restructures. That is a lot of cap between just a few WRs

Why are people expecting Ridley to be happy with under $20 million per year?   Franchise tag would net him 20+ million per.

If we're paying over $20 million per, I'd hope it'd be for Tee Higgins.  But I'd understand if we franchised Ridley's 30 year old tail for 1 more season.

They're going to save the franchise tag for Josh Allen.

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We have plenty of skill players under contract. More than the current trenches allow us to use. We are, I hope first spending money in the trenches this year then with the left over buying our new DC and Trevor more toys.

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A new broom always sweeps clean.