The Falcons’ offseason will be centered around Calvin Ridley, who stepped away from the team a handful of games into the 2021 season to focus on his mental wellbeing. If Ridley returns to football, there are no guarantees he requests a trade or wants to play in a Falcons uniform. From our perspective, Terry Fontenot and Arthur Smith are in limbo over this situation.
There has been no insight into what Ridley desires either way. The only shred of information we’ve heard from Ridley’s side is the now infamous tweet that he liked, which read: “I really hope the Miami Dolphins get Calvin Ridley.”
If you took the temperature of the situation through social media, you’d almost certainly come away with the conclusion that Ridley is going to be traded. However, Twitter and Facebook aren’t representative of reality.
The reality is the Falcons are the most likely landing spot, according to sportsbooks. At Bovada, Atlanta (-175) is still Ridley’s most likely destination for 2022. Top to bottom, Falcons’ leadership has been adamant about their desire for Ridley to return to the team, so it does make sense.
However, if the Falcons do end up trading Ridley, the Patriots (+325) are clear favorites to land him, followed by the Raiders (+600) and Cardinals (+600). The Falcons have a history with Bill Belichick, but the Mohamed Sanu trade was constructed by the old regime, so a new relationship will have to be made with the current one.
Here are the Ridley odds as of Friday morning:
- Falcons -175
- Patriots +325
- Raiders +600
- Cardinals +600
- Bears +700
- Cowboys +700
The Falcons are now in the second offseason of the Fontenot-Smith era, with their second crisis involving a disgruntled star receiver. I’m sure this isn’t how either man saw the first months on the job going, but this is the hand they were dealt. How they respond will reveal quite a bit about this new regime.
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