Titans land Calvin Ridley: Could star receiver’s arrival spell the end to DeAndre Hopkins era in Tennessee?

The Tennessee Titans dropped out of the virtual abyss to stun the NFL by signing Calvin Ridley to a four-year, $92 million contract on the first day of the league year. It was truly a remarkable turn of events considering that the Titans had not been publicly linked to Ridley throughout the legal tampering period and it was thought to largely be a two-team race between the Jaguars and Patriots for his services. But the NFL is always good for a curveball. And could another curveball — involving these very Titans — be on the way? 

While the arrival of Ridley may currently be looked at as an embarrassment of riches for second-year quarterback Will Levis when paired alongside DeAndre Hopkins, there’s, at the very least, the option for Tennessee to make Ridley the replacement to Hopkins within this offense rather than his running mate.

With Ridley intact as a top-flight receiver, it does free up the Titans to clear up even more salary cap space by moving on from Hopkins if they so choose. If labeled as a post-June 1 release, Tennessee would clear $16.35 million by parting ways with Hopkins and face a minimal dead cap hit of $1.96 million in 2024 and $5.8 million dead cap charge in 2025. 

Per Spotrac, Tennessee has roughly $67 million in salary cap space at the moment, which is second most in the league. With that in mind, the Titans aren’t exactly trying to scratch and claw their way to get cap-compliant, so a drastic decision, such as moving off of Hopkins, isn’t a necessity by any stretch. Really, the arrival of Ridley merely makes Hopkins more expendable than he was 24 hours ago, and his contract wouldn’t serve as a speed bump if they were to go down that road. 

The 31-year-old signed with the Titans last July and played all 17 games for the club in 2023. He caught 75 of his 137 targets for 1,057 yards and seven touchdowns. His 54.7 catch percentage was the second-lowest of his career, but that could be chalked up to some inconsistent quarterback play on the part of the Titans, who started the year with Ryan Tannehill under center and eventually pivoted to the rookie Levis for nine games. 

Most likely, Hopkins will remain in Nashville and form a solid one-two punch with Ridley and help the development of Levis as he enters his first season as the full-time starter for the Titans. That said, given the arrival of Ridley and Hopkins’ contract providing an easy out, it’s at least worth noting the possibility of him being cut loose by the team in the not-so-distant future.