How Calvin Ridley is Making The Most Of A Simplified Offense
Calvin Ridley has looked like a different player over the last three weeks, thanks to Brian Callahan keeping it simple.
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Week Six felt like the boiling point for one of the Titans’ most prominent free agent acquisitions, Calvin Ridley. The first year Titan’s season was not off to a great start after signing a four year contract with 50 million guaranteed. Ridley’s meager 27 targets through six games certainly was not worth the price Ran Carthon had paid.
How Did We Get Here?
Tennessee’s lackluster 20-17 loss to the Indianapolis Colts featured Ridley at a low point. An eight target, zero reception day was a major reason why fans and players alike were beginning to become aggravated with the 2024 offense. But no one else was more frustrated than Calvin Ridley, who had some choice words after the game.
When Ridley pointed out to reporters postgame that most of his targets came late in the game, Ridley followed with “S***, I need some (targets) in the beginning of the f*****g game too. S***'s getting crazy for me.” Ridley’s warning shot made it clear to the Titans and media that something had to change.
Fast forward to Week Eleven, and things have completely changed for the 29 year old receiver. From Week Seven onward, Ridley has seen 41 targets for 342 yards and two of his three touchdown catches on the year. Getting Ridley going has been a massive reason the Titans’ offense has shown even a semblance of life over their one-and-three stint.
So what changed? How has Ridley gone from noticeable to the Tennessee Titans defacto number one receiver? Let's look into it.
When I wrote about Will Levis’ return last week, I alluded to a serious case of “addition by subtraction” for Ridley. Since the departure of Deandre Hopkins and Treylon Burks, the Titans simply have been forced to make Ridley their alpha wide receiver from Week Eight onward. The move has worked wonders for both Mason Rudolph and Will Levis over the last three games, with Ridley commanding 20 balls for 300 yards. Those numbers have ranked him with the best of the best during that span, tied with the Vikings’ Justin Jefferson for 2nd best since Week Eight and trailing only the Bengals’ Ja’marr Chase.
Calvin Ridley is not only up there with star receivers in yardage, but also with the best of them in terms of making those yards count. Since Week Eight, Ridley is tied with Jefferson and the Cowboys’ Ceedee Lamb with 14 of those 20 receptions going for 20 yards.
Ridley‘s ability to be a chain mover for this Titans team has gotten the offense out of some sticky situations, and begs the question: Why haven't they forced it to him sooner?
There have been a few times over the past couple of weeks where it seems like the Titans should have done this a lot earlier, even when Hopkins and Burks were healthy. On Thursday, Nick Holz once again alluded to the fact that this offense simply wasn't sure how to operate yet, saying:
“I think it's just kind of everybody continuing to grow and getting more comfortable in the offense…. In the beginning of the season we’re trying some different things, maybe moving people around…. I think the consistency of the last couple of weeks just offensively outside of the quarterback having the same guys in the same spots.”
Holz continued by mentioning how much mixing and matching there was at the start of the season, saying:
“In the beginning we were getting (Deandre Hopkins) back, we still had Burks, and some other guys, so I think the consistency by staying in the same spots has helped everyone and the quarterbacks as well.”
We knew it would take time for the offense to gel, but it seems like Holz and the offensive staff have only really started to hit their stride post Week Eight. In my opinion, the Titans' simplification of the offense has been a real driving factor as to why there has been success through the air in the first place.
In Weeks One through Six, Ridley’s production lagged due to the sheer amount of players the Titans rolled out on any given drive. The data during that span, courtesy of FantasyPoints, has Ridley only commanding an 18.7% target share, with 25.4% of his targets coming on the first read.
Coming off of his frustrating matchup against Indianapolis, Ridley has flourished. Calvin has reaped the rewards of a monstrous 34.0% target share and seen a 40.8% first read target share over the last three games.
The Titans game plan to simply force feed Ridley the ball has simply worked. Ridley’s air yardage share across the team is only matched by the likes of the Eagles’ AJ Brown, Giants’ Malik Nabers, and the Saints’ Rasheed Shaheed when he was healthy.
Not only has it helped the offense, but Will Levis as well. In his first game back, Levis had his best day in terms of CPOE % with a +11.3%. Levis was one of only four quarterbacks in Week 10 to have a percentage above 10.
I asked Nick Holtz if, despite being a “progression based offense”, this uptick was intentional in terms of simplifying the game plan, as well as getting Levis in rhythm. Holz’s answer?
“Absolutely. I think especially protection wise, we want to get the ball out fast on first and second downs.”
Holz also noted how they’ve continued to vary how he's deployed in his new alpha role, saying “Each week, we’ve been able to vary it up to get him involved … It’s been nice to kind of start games faster, for a change.”
Getting Ridley involved earlier is certainly a key to getting this offense moving more efficiently. Establishing the threat of Ridley in a variety of ways will not only get Will Levis into a rhythm, but also open up opportunities for guys like Tony Pollard and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine.
The Titans will need to rely heavily on their alpha wideout this weekend against the Minnesota Vikings, who are allowing 254.8 passing yards per game. With a simplified gameplan, Ridley could look to feast on a susceptible secondary as Tennessee attempts to knock off an NFC contender.
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