Sep 25, 2025 3:50 PM EDT

The Tennessee Titans came into 2025 needing Calvin Ridley, badly. He was the only proven high-level commodity in their receiving room, and there were plenty of people who wondered aloud what this team would do if he, God forbid, went down for any amount of time to injury.

Oh how silly that feels now in hindsight. We had the foresight in the summer to worry about what would happen if he wasn’t a factor, but we all assumed that would be the result of an injury. In perhaps an even crueler twist of fate, Ridley’s physical health is in perfect working order. But his mental health, or perhaps more specifically his mojo, is at a major low point. He’s off to a terrible start through three games in 2025 despite playing a heavy dose of snaps and getting a heavy dose of targets. And on Wednesday, he spoke to the media for the first time since a third consecutive letdown game against the Colts.

Calvin Ridley Gets Candid About Struggles

2024 was a slow start for Calvin Ridley, but everybody chalked it up to a receiver in a new system, with a new quarterback, merely struggling to get on the same page with everything going on around him. That idea was reinforced when he turned the corner midseason and played his final 11 games of the year at a 130 target, 1300 yard pace. Heading into 2025, it was fair to assume that a more comfortable and confident Ridley, with a big upgrade at QB at his disposal, would hit the ground running in a way that he wasn’t able to pull off before.

But that clearly wasn’t in the cards. It’s been a hellish redux of his first Titans season so far, and when I asked him where his head is at this week, he didn’t hold back. “Oh, I’m upset, very upset” he told me. “I didn’t expect this, but I’m moving on, trying my best to move on from the past weeks. Excited for the new opportunity, thank God I have another game in front of me, but very upset about it.”

How he plans on doing that, though, is by simply keeping his head down and putting one foot in front of the other. “Move on, the days don’t stop, honestly, the days don’t stop rolling. Unfortunately, I’ve had some bad games in my career, but not like this, but just gotta move on and thank God I have another game.”

When we asked if he had changed anything about his preparation, or if he was planning on changing something now, he alluded to some tinkering that’s going on. “I’ve changed it a little bit” he said, “I’m trying to see something. Definitely catching up, getting more time with my quarterback, my coaches today, but just get my confidence back rolling. Get one, keep rolling, get a win, that’ll fix a lot of stuff.” What that “something” is that he’s working on, he declined to specify.

This lull is eerily similar to how Ridley started last year statistically. Through three games in 2024, he was 8/24 for 136 yards and a touchdown. Through three games in 2025, he is 8/21 for 111 yards. Earlier this week, head coach Brian Callahan explained how he’s worked to remind Calvin who he is, and Calvin bristled at the fact that he’s needing that reminder right now.

“Honestly, that makes me more mad than anything, because I know that. And I’m not a guy who needs to hear that all the time, but that makes, it just pisses me off because I know who I am.”

Ridley has to pull himself out of this funk if the Titans offense is ever going to start humming. His next chance to come back to life is this weekend in Houston.

About the author

Easton Freeze covers the Tennessee Titans and the NFL Draft for the A to Z Sports trending and breaking news team.