Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Press Pass | Calvin Ridley: “I Love My Quarterback, I Love My Teammates... We Can Do Some Big Things.”

Transcript

Press Pass | Calvin Ridley: “I Love My Quarterback, I Love My Teammates... We Can Do Some Big Things.” · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

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