What Jones told Ridley before his NFL debut
Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones had some advice for first-round pick Calvin Ridley before he made his NFL debut against the Jets last Friday.
“Calvin was going to be ready regardless,” Jones said on Tuesday. “One of the things I told him, don’t hang his head on…everybody is always like his debut. That debut. Don’t compare yourself or try to out (perform) somebody else that’s a rookie coming into the league.”
Jones and Ridley played at Alabama. They spent some time working out over the offseason in Tuscaloosa.
Ridley, who was taken with the 26th overall pick, had one catch for minus-2 yards in the 17-0 loss to the Jets.
“I just told him to just work on his craft and keep working,” Jones said. “At the end of the day you’ve got to battle yourself and not everybody else in the league. But for him, he was ready to go. We just didn’t get him enough opportunities in the game.”
Ridley felt his first game went fine.
“It was good to be back out there in a game,” Ridley said. “It was similar to college…I was just going in there to play a game.”
About the Author
Honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his "long and distinguished reporting in the field of pro football," D. Orlando Ledbetter, Esq. has covered the NFL 28 seasons. A graduate of Howard University, he's a winner of Georgia Sportswriter of the Year and three Associated Press Sports Editor awards.
