What will be Calvin Ridley’s impact?

What would be considered a successful season for rookie Calvin Ridley?

The Atlanta Falcons selected the former Alabama wide receiver Calvin Ridley with their 2018 first round pick. If the Falcons didn’t think that the rookie could and would immediately contribute to this team’s offense, they would not have drafted him as highly as they did.

Ridley is in an interesting position because he will not be the number one or number two weapon on this team for the foreseeable future. As such, by creating benchmarks for Ridley this season, we can go back and see how his production matched other players drafted with him as well as players drafted in the past.

In the scouting community, a first-round pick should be a player that has the potential to be an All-Pro/Pro Bowl caliber player. For a wide receiver to reach that standard, having a thousand year receiving and greater than eight touchdowns is almost required.

Therefore, if Ridley is supposed to have such a solid impact his rookie year, it would be fair to expect him to put up at least 900 receiving yards and greater than five touchdowns.

However, if he was able to put up 1100+ receiving yards and greater than 10 touchdowns, he would have one of the better rookie seasons in the last decade.

When it comes to evaluating Ridley’s performance, be careful not to only evaluate him on the team’s wins and losses. This Falcons squad is a team that was already going to win nine-plus games. The addition of Ridley might be able to push this team to 10, 11, or 12 wins if he is able to stay healthy and has a big impact.

What do you project to be Ridley’s season statistics?