‘Why can’t I be better?’

The last time Calvin Ridley played in an NFL game was in October 2021. When the wide receiver makes his debut with the Jacksonville Jaguars in the fall, he’ll face the challenge of picking up where he left off after nearly two years away from the field.

But Ridley is thinking about his lengthy absence from football as more of an opportunity than a hurdle.

“I’ve been pretty good at football all my life,” Ridley said Wednesday during a press conference. “Not only have I been good, I’ve worked to be good. They say ‘two years off,’ but what about the healing process that I got during that time off? What if I got faster? What if I got stronger? Obviously, I got wiser. Why can’t I be better?

“I kind of look at it like that. Obviously, two years off, I gotta go through the tightness, leg tightness. I gotta go through all the crap. But I see myself in a good place.”

In a March letter published on The Players Tribune, Ridley delved into the injury history he dealt with during his time with the Atlanta Falcons. It included him playing through the 2020 season with a broken foot and nagging bone spurs in years prior.

Ridley, 28, still managed to catch 90 passes during the 2020 season for 1,374 yards and nine touchdowns.