Former Steelers Guard Trai Essex Predicts Team Will Pursue Calvin Ridley

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ priorities may have changed a bit this week.

Steelers fans have been waiting for the team to bring in a dependable second wide receiver since they traded Diontae Johnson last offseason.

They brought in DK Metcalf this offseason, but also traded away George Pickens, leaving them without a second option they can count on.

While that deficiency seemed like the biggest thing holding the Steelers back from true contender status, we learned on Thursday that they also have some big concerns on defense as they were just torched by Joe Flacco and the Bengals.

Despite that need, they could still find themselves in the market for the WR2 they’ve been missing and one of their former starters sees a former All-Pro as the one they’ll be after.

Tennessee Titans wide receiver Calvin RidleyJoe Camporeale-Imagn Images

In a recent social media post, former Steelers guard Trai Essex said that he has a feeling the team will be in play for Tennessee Titans wide receiver Calvin Ridley.

There was a time when Ridley looked to be on his way to becoming one of the NFL’s best receivers. During his third year in the NFL, he earned All-Pro honors with 90 catches for 1374 yards and nine touchdowns.

Then his career took an odd turn. The following year he missed time for personal reasons and ended up missing 29 consecutive weeks because he was suspended for a violation of the league’s gambling policy while he was away from the Falcons.

While he never returned to playing at pre-suspension levels, Ridley did have a couple of solid seasons after the missed time.

In 2023 he made 76 catches for 1016 yards with the Jaguars. He then signed with the Titans and topped 1000 yards again in 2024 in spite of the team’s awful QB play.

This year has been a real struggle for him. Through the Titans’ first six games, Ridley made just 16 catches for 290 yards and a large portion of the came during a 5/131 performance against the Cardinals.

While Cam Ward having a difficult start to his career certainly hasn’t helped, Ridleyhas also had an issue with drops in 2025.

Now he is dealing with a hamstring injury that forced him to miss Sunday’s matchup against the Patriots.

Despite this year’s struggles, Ridley will still be one of the more interesting wide receiver options who could find himself on the trade block over the next couple of weeks based on the big numbers he has put up in the past.

The Steelers should be one of those teams giving him a look. After spending the offseason making moves to win right now, they can’t afford to cheap out now.

The offense may need to be the driving force behind this team’s success as the defense struggles and Aaron Rodgers has been playing well enough that giving him a real WR2 for the first time in a long time may be enough to take the offense to another level.

Ridley also wouldn’t be too risky of an option for the Steelers as less than half of his cap hit for 2026 is dead money and only $5 million of his 2027 cap hit is dead money.

There are sure to be plenty of names thrown around ahead of the NFL’s trade deadline as potential Steelers additions and Ridley is one that makes a lot of sense for them if the Titans are open to a reasonable offer.

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Oct 21, 2025, where it first appeared in the NFL section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Former Steelers Guard Trai Essex Predicts Team Will Pursue Calvin Ridley

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