Calvin Ridley? No thanks. (EDIT: Signs With Titans)

[lancerman]

I do agree with your general premise, but not when it came to signing Ridley.

Every year this fanbase hears about them kicking the tires on a WR, they sign somewhere else, the fan base celebrates avoiding an “overpay”, spends the next regular season freaking out about the passing game being inept.

Rinse and repeat. Strategy isn’t working

 

[cmasspatsfan]

Ridley got 92m over 4 years so 23m AAV.

Like I said Evans set the market when he signed for 26m per year with Tampa Bay.

Guess the Patriots didn't want to burn that much cash.

Either that or they switched their target to the Charger's Williams.

Id rather they draft someone in the second round or move up into the first and take one, good year for wide receivers.

 

[Ian]

Every year this fanbase hears about them kicking the tires on a WR, they sign somewhere else, the fan base celebrates avoiding an “overpay”, spends the next regular season freaking out about the passing game being inept.

Rinse and repeat. Strategy isn’t working

Yeah, the only way Ridley would have come here would have been for $26+ million per (maybe even $28 million) along with more guaranteed money. He didn't want to be here, and there was no way he would have unless it was at a level that was so obscene, even the Titans would have been like, "Ok ... that's just ridiculous."

You guys are kind of making it seem like Ridley wanted to be a Patriot, but they cheaped out and just got outbid. That's obviously not what happened. He had no interest in being here and he used them to drive his value up until they obviously realized what was up and finally said, 'this is the best we're going to do,' and that's when the Titans obviously went to where they did and it got done.

But they would have had to severely overpay to sway him - he didn't want to leave and by all accounts, based on what Bedard said, he's got something up where he really wanted to stay in the Jacksonville area.

"The Patriots have made a substantial offer to Calvin Ridley," said Bedard. "It's a lot better than the Jaguars. But Ridley, for personal reasons, really does not want to leave Jacksonville and is hoping that they up their offer." Bedard notes that the reason is 'indeed personal' and doesn't contain any ulterior reason.

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[Ian]

This is just what we're going to be in for until the tide turns and people see an upward trajectory.

But I actually found this whole thing pretty encouraging, with Wolf clearly not afraid to get aggressive or get to the right market value, rather than try and go for lower-tiered players. It's a considerable change from the previous approach and, honestly, refreshing. I even feel had Wolf been in charge, the deal with Hopkins would have gotten done last year and Parker wouldn't have been extended. They'd certainly be in a better spot right now had that been the case, but I definitely like what I've seen from him so far.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

This is just what we're going to be in for until the tide turns and people see an upward trajectory.

But I actually found this whole thing pretty encouraging, with Wolf clearly not afraid to get aggressive or get to the right market value, rather than try and go for lower-tiered players. It's a considerable change from the previous approach and, honestly, refreshing. I even feel had Wolf been in charge, the deal with Hopkins would have gotten done last year and Parker wouldn't have been extended. They'd certainly be in a better spot right now had that been the case, but I definitely like what I've seen from him so far.

If anyone but Parkers agent, wife or BB was in charge he wouldn't have been extended.

 

[Sam Bam Cunningham]

This is just what we're going to be in for until the tide turns and people see an upward trajectory.

But I actually found this whole thing pretty encouraging, with Wolf clearly not afraid to get aggressive or get to the right market value, rather than try and go for lower-tiered players. It's a considerable change from the previous approach and, honestly, refreshing. I even feel had Wolf been in charge, the deal with Hopkins would have gotten done last year and Parker wouldn't have been extended. They'd certainly be in a better spot right now had that been the case, but I definitely like what I've seen from him so far.

Ian, Wolfe got completely played and used on Ridley. How can you be encouraged by that. Agressive would be a 25 million per year offer and tell his agent if he does not take it before wed at 4 pm the offer will be pulled.
Now i did not want him but the organization was just embarrassed.
How do you have 80 million in cap space and not walk away with a single upgrade at WR?
How about trade for Jeudy, even sign OBJ.?

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

Ian, Wolfe got completely played and used on Ridley. How can you be encouraged by that. Agressive would be a 25 million per year offer and tell his agent if he does not take it before wed at 4 pm the offer will be pulled.
Now i did not want him but the organization was just embarrassed.
How do you have 80 million in cap space and not walk away with a single upgrade at WR?

25 per is more embarrassing for the organization.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Every year this fanbase hears about them kicking the tires on a WR, they sign somewhere else, the fan base celebrates avoiding an “overpay”, spends the next regular season freaking out about the passing game being inept.

Rinse and repeat. Strategy isn’t working

Justin Jefferson is a guy you pay. However, he's easily going to get over $30M and over $50M guaranteed.

 

[Sam Bam Cunningham]

25 per is more embarrassing for the organization.

Disagree. Its not our money. Use it

 

[TommyD4207]

Justin Jefferson is a guy you pay. However, he's easily going to get over $30M and over $50M guaranteed.

And worth every penny. And could be easily had in a trade.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

Disagree. Its not our money. Use it

Use it wisely. Not on a 30 yr old WR2. You know the deal the titans gave out was a bad one.

 

[Zuma]

We need to hit on an overwhelming number of draft picks or these FA misses will be a real problem.

 

[Ian]

Ian, Wolfe got completely played and used on Ridley. How can you be encouraged by that. Agressive would be a 25 million per year offer and tell his agent if he does not take it before wed at 4 pm the offer will be pulled.
Now i did not want him but the organization was just embarrassed.
How do you have 80 million in cap space and not walk away with a single upgrade at WR?
How about trade for Jeudy, even sign OBJ.?

That's way too much money, and he wasn't worth it, which is why even Tennessee didn't got that high. They already overshot his value by well above market value for a player his age.

Look at the guarantees he got compared to his peers:



It's absurd.

And had he pulled the offer, the reaction would have been identical. People would have cursed them for not going higher. Or for "playing hardball."

In the end, the reality is, they simply had no shot. Not unless Ridley actually had an interest in playing here, which it doesn't sound like he did.

 

[palialka]

By punting I mean their selection if Brissett as UFA qb. They are not going to seriously compete with himas qb this year.
To me punting means it will be a bridge year.
When there is a rising qb, that is when they will overpay for WR

The thing is we were all in and tried to pay top dollar for Ridley, but like many have said already; he used our offer as leverage to get what he wanted from a team he was willing to play for. It’s pretty obvious that he never wanted to come here.

It’s damn near impossible to bat a 1000 in FA and in this case I’m happy we didn’t as Ridley has never proven to be a true WR1 and certainly isn’t worth the coin Tennessee paid. Let’s see what other WRs come available and what we can do in the draft.

So far, Wolf has done a commendable job in FA addressing team needs and keeping core guys. Let’s hope he keeps it up. I’m definitely looking forward to the draft.

 

[palialka]

Ian, Wolfe got completely played and used on Ridley. How can you be encouraged by that. Agressive would be a 25 million per year offer and tell his agent if he does not take it before wed at 4 pm the offer will be pulled.
Now i did not want him but the organization was just embarrassed.
How do you have 80 million in cap space and not walk away with a single upgrade at WR?
How about trade for Jeudy, even sign OBJ.?

Team offers get leveraged constantly in FA. Agents do that ALL the time so it’s not like this situation with Wolf is some special case. Offering a guy like Ridley (someone who has never proven himself to be a true WR1) 25M a year is stupid, not aggressive.

Jeudy, OBJ really??? Jeudy’s even more overrated than Ridley and OBJ is a JAG now. I definitely don’t want to see us open up the vault for those two.

Let’s see what happens with Higgins and Williams. True #1 WRs are almost never available in FA so we may be better off loading up in this deep WR draft class. I think MHJ is a legit possibility for us in the draft.

 

[PatsFan2]

Ian, Wolfe got completely played and used on Ridley. How can you be encouraged by that. Agressive would be a 25 million per year offer and tell his agent if he does not take it before wed at 4 pm the offer will be pulled.
Now i did not want him but the organization was just embarrassed.
How do you have 80 million in cap space and not walk away with a single upgrade at WR?
How about trade for Jeudy, even sign OBJ.?

Sam I am sure you know a new GM can be Handicapped by his Predecessor. We are in this WR predicament because of BB. He didn't value the position and lost touch with the current game that's why he ain't Coaching. Wolf is going to fix this he's with the Times we are Going to Draft them *WR's* until we Hit.

 

[Since1960]

Just read an article posted on PF that the team with the most available cap $’s on Monday will now look to the draft to address our WR situation. Sooo, if we select a QB in round 1, that means we need to choose between the best leftover OT or WR in round 2. Quite a choice - pick a WR to help the new QB with receptions at the the risk of getting him killed with one of our current JAG left tackles. Looks like our WR fix is going to be a 3rd rounder - hope the WR is as DEEP as they are saying!

 

[40yrpatsfan]

Ian, Wolfe got completely played and used on Ridley. How can you be encouraged by that. Agressive would be a 25 million per year offer and tell his agent if he does not take it before wed at 4 pm the offer will be pulled.
Now i did not want him but the organization was just embarrassed.
How do you have 80 million in cap space and not walk away with a single upgrade at WR?
How about trade for Jeudy, even sign OBJ.?

We made the bid for Ridley Tuesday, which seemed right cause he could get snapped up quick. Then it got stretched out for over a day, which everyone assumed had to do with the Wed 4pm thing with Atlanta's 2nd round/3rd round compensation. Maybe that was the reason for the delay, maybe it was something else. But that extra time seemed to enable the Titans getting involved. Our offer was better than the Jags offer, so we know it was an aggressive offer.

I have the feeling we weren't given a chance to improve the offer, but even if we were it would have required going to at least $25m/yr x 4 years for a 29 yr old. I can't criticize anything Wolf did here.

 

[Force Zero Boomer]

It’s a bit concerning the Pats stayed in as long as they did, and offered as much as they did.

It's dumbfounding, since Ridley quit on his team 2 out of the last 3 years. His head isn't right and the Titans are going to regret signing him. If he had three solid seasons in a row, then I can understand it. The "trust the plan" types will blast me, but for the Patriots to be in contention for him is shocking.

 

[Sfpat]

I bet he does well in that Titans offense, although it's a bit of a gamble with their QB and new staff, but he should be all-in for that amount of money, even if the odds are he can flop there

How did young QB Lawrance and the Jaguars fare with Ridley? Added Ridley and went from playoff team to non-playoff team. Just saying