Jaguars’ Jamal Agnew on adding Calvin Ridley to rising offense: ‘The league gotta watch out’

Last season’s Jacksonville Jaguars were one of the NFL’s most improved teams. After their disastrous 2021 campaign that yielded a 3-14 record, the Jags landed the No. 1 overall pick (Travon Walker), splashed the pot in free agency (Christian Kirk, Brandon Scherff, among others), and hired Doug Pederson to replace the departed Urban Meyer.

Much of the improvement came on the offensive side of the ball. 

In 2021 under Meyer, the Jags were one of the league’s most inept offenses: They finished the season ranked 27th in yards, 32nd in points, 29th in expected points added per play, and 27th in Football Outsiders’ DVOA. Last season under Pederson, those numbers improved across the board, as Jacksonville checked in 10th in both yards and points, tied for seventh in EPA per play, and ninth in DVOA.

Wide receiver and return man Jamal Agnew sees things improving even more in 2023 thanks to the presence of a new teammate: Wide receiver Calvin Ridley, who was acquired from the Atlanta Falcons ahead of last season’s trade deadline but had to sit out the remainder of the season while still serving a suspension for violating the league’s gambling policy. 

“We’ve got an explosive offense, obviously we’ve got Kirk, Zay [Jones], Evan [Engram], Travis [Etienne], myself, and then obviously Trevor [Lawrence] playing quarterback,” Agnew said, per talkSPORT. “But add Calvin into that offense off of what we built last year already? The league gotta watch out.”

As for what it is about Ridley that makes him so special, Agnew elaborated. 

“Just the way he moves, you can see. His route running, he can run, catch anything you throw to him, he’s just different, man,” Agnew said. “You just watch him out there, he’s a mismatch nightmare. In my opinion I don’t think anybody can guard him in the league.”

The last time we saw him play a full season, Ridley caught 90 passes for 1,374 yards and nine touchdowns. That was back in 2020, when he was still working as the No. 2 wideout alongside Julio Jones in Atlanta. Now, he’s the No. 1 target, working alongside Kirk, Jones, Engram, Agnew, and more, with one of the league’s ascending young quarterbacks looking his way. Jacksonville is surely counting on him to take things up a notch.