ESPN’s Bill Barnwell recently looked back at 23 somewhat recent NFL trades, and with the help of hindsight, determined who the winner and loser was from each of those deals.
As it pertains to the Jacksonville Jaguars, Barnwell looked back at the trade with Atlanta for wide receiver Calvin Ridley.
“This seemed like a low-risk, high-reward move for a Jaguars team trying to build around young quarterback Trevor Lawrence,” Barnwell wrote. “Although Jacksonville’s picks would scale if Ridley played well, the Jags were sending two Day 3 selections to the Falcons for a player who had racked up 1,374 yards in 2020.”
In his one season with the Jaguars, Ridley found some success, totaling 76 receptions and 1,016 yards with eight touchdowns.
However, as Barnwell notes, Ridley “never seemed to really settle into the offense on a consistent basis.”
But even so, some late-round picks in return for a 1,000-yard receiver isn’t a bad deal–although it was for just one season, which the Jaguars knew beforehand.
So what’s Barnwell’s verdict? A slight trade win for Jacksonville.
“Both sides were ready to move on after one year, and Ridley joined the Titans in free agency,” Barnwell wrote. “The Falcons used the picks to bring in Okudah, a veteran corner, for one season and move up for Orhorhoro, who hasn’t established himself as a starter.”
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Looking back, who won Jaguars-Falcons Calvin Ridley trade
