Latest / Press Pass / Press Pass | Calvin Ridley: “I Love My Quarterback, I Love My Teammates... We Can Do Some Big Things.”
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Like I remember my first day, I walked in.
- 0:01Speaker 2: There was no one in the in the locker room,
- 0:03Speaker 2: but I was just like, wow, I'm really back here.
- 0:06Speaker 2: So I just I'm just really grateful to be in
- 0:09Speaker 2: this position again and around some great teammates, great quarterback,
- 0:13Speaker 2: great coaches, and like I said the second day, third
- 0:16Speaker 2: day to Marrows, it's been amazing for me. You've gotten
- 0:18Speaker 2: to work out a couple of times with Trevor, so
- 0:20Speaker 2: far out of your early thoughts.
- 0:21Speaker 1: Yeah, I did.
- 0:22Speaker 3: So.
- 0:22Speaker 1: I've been here for about five weeks.
- 0:24Speaker 2: I've been here in the sun and run around and
- 0:26Speaker 2: trying to you know, learn the city and everything.
- 0:29Speaker 1: Getting with Trevor.
- 0:30Speaker 2: That's been great, you know, for like, we're two good players,
- 0:33Speaker 2: and we got a bunch of great teammates and other
- 0:36Speaker 2: weapons to use. And I think we gotta, you know,
- 0:37Speaker 2: we're gonna we're gonna be pretty good. We gotta keep jelling,
- 0:40Speaker 2: keep getting better, you know, get all this stuff out
- 0:42Speaker 2: the way.
- 0:43Speaker 1: But yeah, looking pretty decent right now. I mean, your.
- 0:46Speaker 3: Players triput and were so well received.
- 0:48Speaker 2: Did you get any comments that that meant a lot
- 0:50Speaker 2: to you once that was published?
- 0:54Speaker 1: Honestly, when I when you know, when I did that.
- 0:56Speaker 2: I really did that for myself, and I did that
- 0:58Speaker 2: for you know, just to let some people know what
- 1:02Speaker 2: was kind of what was going on, because you know,
- 1:05Speaker 2: when I was on that since your suspension, I was
- 1:07Speaker 2: just you know, I would come outside sometimes and talk
- 1:09Speaker 2: to certain people that I wanted to talk to friends,
- 1:11Speaker 2: and I was just listening.
- 1:13Speaker 1: I'd be like, Oh, Okay, that's what you think. That's
- 1:15Speaker 1: what you're thinking. That's what you're thinking.
- 1:17Speaker 2: So it was just, you know, for me personally, it
- 1:19Speaker 2: was just more just to get it out and say
- 1:22Speaker 2: all right, y'all. I mean I love football, and I
- 1:25Speaker 2: was just I just had it hard at that point.
- 1:27Speaker 1: I mean I did. I was in my fourth season.
- 1:28Speaker 1: I didn't want it to be that hard.
- 1:30Speaker 2: I mean, I'm I'm a great player who works and
- 1:32Speaker 2: who needs an off season in order to be great.
- 1:35Speaker 1: I mean most of us do. And that's kind of
- 1:38Speaker 1: what I what I was saying.
- 1:39Speaker 2: I was just like, like, I work hard, I was hurt.
- 1:43Speaker 2: I'm not soft at all at all, and I was
- 1:49Speaker 2: in a tough situation. A lot of people I would
- 1:50Speaker 2: have wish I want to see how you would have
- 1:52Speaker 2: handled that. So that's all I was saying, how hard
- 1:55Speaker 2: was that to put all that It was, you know,
- 1:58Speaker 2: the thing that made me, you know, more mad than
- 2:00Speaker 2: anything because I did it already.
- 2:03Speaker 1: I already had did it.
- 2:04Speaker 2: Like I was injured and played and played great. So
- 2:06Speaker 2: it's like I kind of put myself in that position
- 2:08Speaker 2: where it was like, why can't you do it again?
- 2:10Speaker 2: But I was like, damn, man, it's just a little
- 2:12Speaker 2: too much. It's a little too much right now. I
- 2:13Speaker 2: gotta you know, when you get to a certain point
- 2:15Speaker 2: of your career, you gotta look at yourself as a business.
- 2:18Speaker 2: At the same time, it's it's like, you know, I
- 2:20Speaker 2: don't suh sacrifice for a while. You know, I'm I'm
- 2:23Speaker 2: coming to you as a man and let you know
- 2:25Speaker 2: something out. I don't wanna let you know, Let's work
- 2:27Speaker 2: this out and i'm'a be here forever.
- 2:29Speaker 1: I mean, whatever you wanna do.
- 2:30Speaker 2: I'm I'm, I'm, I'm I'm I'm willing to sacrifice for
- 2:33Speaker 2: for whatever.
- 2:34Speaker 1: You know, it's important to me.
- 2:35Speaker 4: It's nice to have for your mind, Yeah, man, it's.
- 2:40Speaker 1: Of course.
- 2:40Speaker 2: I mean, I I feel like I always had a
- 2:41Speaker 2: clear mind, but you know, I was injured. Once I
- 2:45Speaker 2: got over that, everything went back to normal.
- 2:47Speaker 1: So now the questions will be, how's he gonna perform?
- 2:50Speaker 5: Right?
- 2:51Speaker 4: Pay?
- 2:51Speaker 1: Two years off? Right? So how confident are you that
- 2:54Speaker 1: that's not getting issued on?
- 2:55Speaker 4: Man?
- 2:56Speaker 2: If I'm being real, I'm being honest, It's like I've
- 2:58Speaker 2: been good at football all my life. Now to be
- 3:01Speaker 2: I'm trying to be humble, you know, Like, like I said,
- 3:03Speaker 2: I've been pretty good at football all my life.
- 3:04Speaker 1: And I not only being good, I also worked to
- 3:07Speaker 1: be good.
- 3:08Speaker 2: And you know they say two years off, But what
- 3:13Speaker 2: about the the healing process that I got to be
- 3:15Speaker 2: with that time off?
- 3:17Speaker 1: How what about what if I got faster? What if
- 3:18Speaker 1: I got stronger? Obviously I got wiser. Why why can't
- 3:22Speaker 1: I be better?
- 3:23Speaker 2: So I kind of look at it like that, Obviously,
- 3:26Speaker 2: you know two years off, I gotta go through I
- 3:27Speaker 2: mean the tightness, the leg tightness, I gotta go through
- 3:29Speaker 2: all the the the crap.
- 3:31Speaker 1: But I mean I I I see myself being a
- 3:34Speaker 1: good player. I do. Do you feel like you got faster,
- 3:37Speaker 1: that you got stronger? Yeah? I mean with a broke foot,
- 3:40Speaker 1: you're gonna lose a step.
- 3:41Speaker 2: So when the foot got right and I started working out,
- 3:43Speaker 2: I was like, Okay, yeah, I'm I'm definitely a little
- 3:45Speaker 2: faster than that situation.
- 3:47Speaker 1: And I was good. I had the broth and I
- 3:48Speaker 1: still was decent.
- 3:49Speaker 2: So when it started to feel good and be normal again,
- 3:52Speaker 2: I was like, alright, y'all running fast?
- 3:54Speaker 1: How long did it take for you to get to
- 3:55Speaker 1: that point where you're back.
- 3:57Speaker 3: And and take ready to roll?
- 3:59Speaker 2: Can't lie to while I used the whole suspension, I
- 4:02Speaker 2: didn't apply for a pill.
- 4:03Speaker 1: I didn't do none of that.
- 4:04Speaker 2: I used to hold suspension to get myself in every
- 4:08Speaker 2: category back to being cal really, And once I felt
- 4:11Speaker 2: like I was kled, really, I couldn't go to the
- 4:14Speaker 2: field and show y'all was cal really, I just had
- 4:16Speaker 2: to just be waiting on Twitter, just looking at my
- 4:18Speaker 2: teams jawas and I'm just waiting for me to, you know,
- 4:22Speaker 2: get back in that process. And like I'm in OTAs
- 4:26Speaker 2: that I got so much time to get myself. That's
- 4:28Speaker 2: the best part about this. And I'm at the workhouse
- 4:31Speaker 2: and with the quarterback.
- 4:31Speaker 1: I'm learning. It's just amazing, man. You like to be
- 4:34Speaker 1: out there on the field a little bit with Trevor Rhally,
- 4:37Speaker 1: it's been great man.
- 4:38Speaker 2: Like like I said, I mean, I'm not trying to
- 4:41Speaker 2: get into it too deep.
- 4:42Speaker 1: But I mean, I love my quarterback right now.
- 4:45Speaker 2: I mean I love my teammates, you know, the other
- 4:47Speaker 2: ride receivers that I'm playing with. I think that we
- 4:50Speaker 2: can be something really serious as long as that we
- 4:52Speaker 2: take those steps to be you know, a really good
- 4:55Speaker 2: team and a good core.
- 4:56Speaker 1: I think that we could do some big things.
- 5:00Speaker 3: About fourteen hundred yards.
- 5:03Speaker 1: Yeah, man, So.
- 5:06Speaker 2: When I put that in a I know I can
- 5:09Speaker 2: you know what what I What I said about that
- 5:10Speaker 2: is this, I.
- 5:11Speaker 1: Am a fourteen hundred yard type of player.
- 5:15Speaker 2: Guy is gonna determine what type of stats I'm gonna have.
- 5:18Speaker 1: And you know, football is not just you know, football
- 5:22Speaker 1: is serious.
- 5:23Speaker 2: I mean, you don't just play seventeen games straight and
- 5:25Speaker 2: you think you're gonna be in every one of 'em
- 5:27Speaker 2: and playing healthy in all of them. So what I'm
- 5:29Speaker 2: saying is I am a fourteen hundred yard receiver with
- 5:32Speaker 2: a broke foot.
- 5:34Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying.
- 5:36Speaker 2: So I know that I can make the plays and
- 5:39Speaker 2: I know that I'm one of the better receivers in
- 5:41Speaker 2: this league.
- 5:41Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying.
- 5:44Speaker 4: Surprise, Nah, So you do did the team catch you
- 5:48Speaker 4: by surprise.
- 5:49Speaker 1: Nah are you friends with uh fo, Yeah, I'm definitely friends.
- 5:56Speaker 1: Before we came to Atlanta together.
- 5:59Speaker 2: Was drafted there, for he went to Yale obviously when
- 6:02Speaker 2: I went to Alabama, so I was already like, nah,
- 6:05Speaker 2: I don't know.
- 6:06Speaker 1: He got he gotta show me man.
- 6:08Speaker 2: I mean, he showed me the first day and he's
- 6:10Speaker 2: been showing everybody ever since. And you know, like I said,
- 6:13Speaker 2: one of the smartest guys ever been around, fast, big, physical.
- 6:17Speaker 1: Just adult. What's been in your pressure of Doug Man?
- 6:21Speaker 2: Just very cool, very happy, very He's uh, he believes,
- 6:28Speaker 2: I mean, he believes in everyone.
- 6:30Speaker 1: He believes in me.
- 6:30Speaker 2: Makes me feel like, all right, I could be here,
- 6:33Speaker 2: I could play great here.
- 6:34Speaker 1: I got it.
- 6:35Speaker 2: I got a great person who believed in me for real,
- 6:38Speaker 2: and I believe in myself. And he's, like I said,
- 6:41Speaker 2: it just makes me feel comfortable. And I get that
- 6:43Speaker 2: from everybody else there. Everybody thinks he's just comfortable man, smooth.
- 6:47Speaker 1: Just like us. So that's that's always great.
- 6:49Speaker 5: You got a unique perspective once you did get dealt
- 6:52Speaker 5: to the Jaguars because you could watch know you're going
- 6:54Speaker 5: to join the team, but also probably say, hey, they
- 6:56Speaker 5: could use this, they could use that.
- 7:00Speaker 2: People look at my situations like all right, it's I
- 7:03Speaker 2: looked at it different.
- 7:04Speaker 1: I mean, y'all didn't see me.
- 7:05Speaker 2: I was like, Oh, I mean, I'm I'm healing, I'm
- 7:08Speaker 2: feeling good, I'm one of my workouts. I'm feeling great.
- 7:11Speaker 2: I get to I can't wait the Sunday when the
- 7:13Speaker 2: Jags play. That's all I really had to look for.
- 7:15Speaker 2: I wasn't watching the other teams. I was waiting for
- 7:17Speaker 2: the Jags to play. And it was just like I
- 7:19Speaker 2: was just putting myself in situations like all right, let
- 7:21Speaker 2: me see I.
- 7:22Speaker 1: Watch probably I mean.
- 7:27Speaker 2: I mean I watch every play maybe twelve to ten
- 7:33Speaker 2: to twelve times over and over every play they ever
- 7:35Speaker 2: did here last season. So I kind of was trying
- 7:39Speaker 2: to just put myself in those situations like.
- 7:40Speaker 1: All right, yeah, they're good. I know who I am.
- 7:45Speaker 1: I know who I am. I can help them, and
- 7:47Speaker 1: I really mean that.
- 7:47Speaker 2: I know I can help move the ball, and I
- 7:49Speaker 2: know like what we have in that room is I
- 7:51Speaker 2: mean we could we should be able to move the
- 7:52Speaker 2: ball as long as we get better.
- 7:54Speaker 5: When you put yourself in that situation, where did you say, hey,
- 7:57Speaker 5: this is what I can bring. This is what maybe
- 7:59Speaker 5: they didn't have.
- 8:00Speaker 1: So I'll say that again.
- 8:01Speaker 5: So when you watched back from last year, when you
- 8:03Speaker 5: were watching it live, what were some things that you said,
- 8:05Speaker 5: maybe they don't have this, I can do this.
- 8:08Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 8:08Speaker 2: One of the biggest things I said is like, so
- 8:11Speaker 2: when I started watching, I was just like, Okay, yeah,
- 8:13Speaker 2: they're good.
- 8:14Speaker 1: It maybe start off a little slow.
- 8:16Speaker 2: It's starting off a little slow, getting a little behind,
- 8:18Speaker 2: and then they make a great comeback. What if you
- 8:20Speaker 2: started off so amazing in the beginning and finished off
- 8:23Speaker 2: like that, I mean, wow, what the team could be.
- 8:26Speaker 2: And I was thinking, like, you know, I know the
- 8:29Speaker 2: player I am, the systems I've been in.
- 8:31Speaker 1: They you know, I'm one of those players they.
- 8:33Speaker 2: Try to get the ball to sometimes on the first
- 8:34Speaker 2: player of the game, and I'm always pretty much ready
- 8:37Speaker 2: to you know, crank it open, get it open, and
- 8:40Speaker 2: I feel like I can help start that energy and
- 8:42Speaker 2: start moving the ball right away as soon as the
- 8:44Speaker 2: game pop off.
- 8:45Speaker 4: When you got traded to the Jaguars, the Jaguars were
- 8:48Speaker 4: not yet, but they became at the end by the
- 8:51Speaker 4: end of the year. So my question to you is
- 8:53Speaker 4: what was your what was your perception about the Jaguars.
- 8:56Speaker 1: When you were launched, when.
- 8:58Speaker 4: You first heard about the trade, and how do you
- 9:00Speaker 4: feel now with you know, a very limited, you know,
- 9:03Speaker 4: association with everybody.
- 9:05Speaker 2: Yeah, it was Uh it was Trevor Lawrence because I
- 9:08Speaker 2: I mean I didn't know anyone.
- 9:10Speaker 1: All I knew was he could throw and I'm.
- 9:12Speaker 2: Watching it and I'm watching it and then you know,
- 9:16Speaker 2: I like the core to receive the cord, you know,
- 9:18Speaker 2: Evan each gn. I think Calvin really added to that,
- 9:22Speaker 2: Jay Jones, I mean, obviously we got way more than that.
- 9:26Speaker 2: I just think it's a I was looking at, like,
- 9:27Speaker 2: all right, I could be I could be good there
- 9:30Speaker 2: and that could be a home for me.
- 9:32Speaker 1: You've mentioned you've been in town for five weeks. Who
- 9:34Speaker 1: you thought about the city as a whole? Any Jaguars fans,
- 9:37Speaker 1: Oh man.
- 9:38Speaker 2: I've none made my way around a little bit, so
- 9:41Speaker 2: my face is surprisingly my face is.
- 9:44Speaker 1: Well known around here. Uh.
- 9:47Speaker 2: You know, I stop at a couple of guests, call washers,
- 9:49Speaker 2: hang out with dudes, you know, let them know who
- 9:51Speaker 2: I am.
- 9:52Speaker 1: I've seen a bunch of kids.
- 9:53Speaker 2: I am telling them that, yes it is Calvin really
- 9:55Speaker 2: when they asks, because you know, I'm semi famous. So
- 9:59Speaker 2: they kind of like, are you I really is like, yeah,
- 10:01Speaker 2: I am bro I'm kind of really so I kind
- 10:03Speaker 2: of let them know who I am.
- 10:04Speaker 1: But it's been pretty good. Feel home, It feel good. Man,
- 10:07Speaker 1: I can't wait you.
- 10:11Speaker 5: What's the best.
- 10:12Speaker 1: So I've been eating at the fish camps. I started
- 10:14Speaker 1: at the fish camps.
- 10:17Speaker 4: Uh.
- 10:18Speaker 1: Yeah, I gonna hit them all fish camp, any fish
- 10:20Speaker 1: camp right now. I'm gonna eat that. Yeah.
- 10:22Speaker 3: Video of you coming across the bridge and seeing your
- 10:25Speaker 3: name of the video and you said, hey, I want
- 10:28Speaker 3: to send this to my mom. So that kind of
- 10:30Speaker 3: tells us the family is really important to you. What
- 10:32Speaker 3: was the reaction of.
- 10:33Speaker 1: You getting back and and support the man? The biggest
- 10:36Speaker 1: thing for me.
- 10:37Speaker 2: So I live in I was I have a house
- 10:39Speaker 2: in Atlanta, and when I got suspended, I was in.
- 10:42Speaker 1: The Florida Florida of course Rings Florida.
- 10:44Speaker 2: With my mom and I just remember that day they
- 10:47Speaker 2: told me I was suspending.
- 10:48Speaker 1: I was like dang. I looked at my mom. I
- 10:49Speaker 1: was like dang.
- 10:51Speaker 4: I was like, man.
- 10:52Speaker 2: So on personally, when it was time for me to
- 10:54Speaker 2: about getting read in stead, I went home to my
- 10:56Speaker 2: mom house and I waited.
- 10:58Speaker 1: It took about two weeks because I.
- 10:59Speaker 2: Was like, I didn't know when they were gonna let
- 11:01Speaker 2: me in what they So I sat there, sat there,
- 11:04Speaker 2: and I was like, okay, they they called, said you're back.
- 11:06Speaker 1: My mom's seen it.
- 11:07Speaker 2: And the day that I got suspended, she just she
- 11:09Speaker 2: doesn't have social media, so she goes.
- 11:10Speaker 1: On online and reads. I was like, oh damn.
- 11:14Speaker 2: And then when I got, you know, put back in,
- 11:16Speaker 2: I could just see my family was probably more excited
- 11:19Speaker 2: than me for real. So that was the biggest thing.
- 11:21Speaker 2: My my girls, I got a daughter or wife, brothers.
- 11:25Speaker 2: I mean, they love, they want me, they love they
- 11:27Speaker 2: they they root for me.
- 11:28Speaker 1: So you know what I'm saying, I got it. I
- 11:29Speaker 1: I'm so happy I got back in there.
- 11:31Speaker 4: You you touched on having four ya, but what about
- 11:34Speaker 4: having cam Robinson and I didn't see Savo as a
- 11:38Speaker 4: guy who who vouched for you?
- 11:40Speaker 1: Here? Uh, what looks it like to have some friends
- 11:42Speaker 1: in the building. Yeah, it's Christian Kirk right off to
- 11:46Speaker 1: you pretty well.
- 11:46Speaker 2: Yeah we been me and christ Kirk been doing this
- 11:48Speaker 2: since high school. Man, I been doing Kirk, seeing him
- 11:51Speaker 2: at all types of camps. Uh, Like I said, I
- 11:53Speaker 2: played with four year in Atlanta. K big camp was
- 11:56Speaker 2: me and him was in the Alabama and like everybody
- 11:58Speaker 2: else in the building, like they've been real.
- 12:00Speaker 1: Respectful to me. I mean, I am. I did make
- 12:03Speaker 1: plays in this league.
- 12:04Speaker 2: I've been making plays like throughout the course of my life,
- 12:08Speaker 2: and you know, God's respect me. I mean, I'm not
- 12:10Speaker 2: a disrespectful person. I'm coming at everyone with respect. And
- 12:13Speaker 2: you know, I'm just trying to, you know, make my
- 12:16Speaker 2: way around and meet everyone and remember everybody's name and.
- 12:18Speaker 1: Just you know, get that, get this thing going for
- 12:21Speaker 1: me personally. All right, Thank you all, Thank you.