Jaguar wide receiver Calvin Ridley apologize for past actions and reveal struggles with trauma and anxiety in a long time open The letter was published in The Players’ Tribune on Wednesday, two days after the NFL reinstated Ridley from an indefinite suspension for gambling on NFL games, including one involving the then-team. his eagle.
“I’m damned,” Ridley wrote. “I’m not here to paint anything. In 2021, I made the worst mistake of my life gambling on football.”
Ridley missed the entire 2022 season due to suspension and forfeited $11 million in wages. The wide receiver will make him Jaguar debut in 2023 after Jacksonville acquired the 28-year-old in a deal with eagle in October 2022 while Ridley remains suspended.
Ridley also revealed that he has faced more serious injuries than previously revealed, especially during a nine-touch 1,374-yard season in 2020. According to Ridley, he He competed that year with a broken foot after dealing with a bone spur in his first two NFL tournaments. during the off-season, but it was misdiagnosed by the Falcons’ then-coach as a bone bruise.
Ridley said the rush to bounce back from that surgery to head into the 2021 season has ultimately taken a toll on both his physical and mental health, and his struggles have only deepened. more important when his house was robbed during the Falcons’ Week 1 game that year. He left the Falcons shortly after and started talking to a therapist.
“I was depressed,” Ridley wrote. “I was battling anxiety. I didn’t even want to leave the house. Football was the only thing that gave my life meaning, and I couldn’t even find any joy in it. at the time. Honestly, I couldn’t even get up from my living room chair. Everything was just… black.”
Ridley also details his time growing up in poverty and spending time in the foster care system, as well as the devastation he felt when he was contacted by NFL investigators and realized what he was. did. According to Ridley, he added a Falcons game to the NBA parlays on a whim just to support his team without any insider information, as he was still away at the time.
But Ridley expressed his excitement at starting a fresh start with the Jaguars, where he joined an electric strike alongside Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne, Christian Krik And Zay Jones. The team also kept a tight finish Evan Engram with franchise card.
The Jaguars were not in contact with Ridley during his suspension, although Ridley often supported his new team on social media as the Jaguars surprised by reaching the knockout stages just a year after finishing. ended with the worst record in the NFL. His Jaguars teammates Lawrence, Kirk and Jones expressed excitement for Ridley to join them.
Ridley, the former first-round player, has 3,342 yards and 28 touchdowns with the Falcons.
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