Atlanta Falcons need to skip Calvin Ridley’s fifth year option

The Atlanta Falcons should just say no to Calvin Ridley’s fifth-year option.

Through three seasons, Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley has certainly lived up to the first-round pick that the team used on him back in 2018. He has recorded 217 receptions for more than 3,000 yards and whopping 26 touchdowns.

Despite missing a game in 2020, Ridley still recorded nearly 1,400 yards, nine touchdowns and filled in nicely for Julio Jones who missed seven games with a variety of injuries.

While he still has to improve in a couple areas before the franchise can say without a doubt that he is a number one, he is on his way.

Atlanta Falcons should skip the fifth-year options and sign Calvin Ridley to an extension.

The Atlanta Falcons did not extend their 2015, 2016, or 2017 first-round draft picks to extensions – their 2017 pick, Keanu Neal, is still up in the air.

Calvin Ridley deserves to be extended rather than have his fifth-year option picked up. There is nothing that Arthur Smith, Terry Fontenot, or anyone else in the organization needs to see before doing so. They also do not want to let Calvin Ridley get to free agency and cost them more to keep him or have to franchise tag him in order to keep him.

The Atlanta Falcons are going to go through changes over the next couple of seasons and there are only a handful of players that we know for sure need to be here for future success – Calvin Ridley, Deion Jones, AJ Terrell, Grady Jarrett, and Chris Lindstrom.

When you know a player like Calvin Ridley is in your future plans, you need to go ahead and lock him for the long-term before you end up regretting not moving fast enough. The franchise has until May to pick up his fifth-year option, they need to go ahead and lock him up for years six through eight as well.