Whenever you ask an NFL player to rank the top five players in their position group, things always seem to get a little interesting. We saw it last week when Darnell Washington of Pittsburgh left Travis Kelce of his ranking of the top five tight endsand this week we have another interesting ranking.
This latest ranking comes from Davante Adams, who was asked to rank the NFL’s top-five receivers during an interview with Brandon Marshall on this week’s “I Am Athlete” podcast. The rankings started normally with Adams ranking himself No. 1 and Justin Jefferson No. 2, but once we got to the fourth ranked receiver, things kind of went sideways and that’s because Adams decided to rank a receiver who didn’t. EVEN PLAY in the NFL last season.
Here’s a look at his list of the NFL’s top five receivers, which actually includes seven receivers due to how he decided to do his ranking:
1. Davante Adams
2. Justin Jefferson
2b. Tirek Hill
3. Stephen Diggs
4. Calvin Ridley
5A. Michael Evans
5B. CeeDee Lamb (Adams had a lot to say about Lamb, which you can read here)
That Adams himself is in first place is no surprise. It also comes as no surprise that Justin Jefferson is ranked number 2. The biggest surprise in the ranking comes at number 4 with Calvin Ridley. Not only did Ridley miss the 2022 season due to a betting suspension, but in his four seasons on the field, he has surpassed 870 receiving yards only once.
Adams clearly knew it would be controversial to include Ridley in his ranking, but he stood by his choice when asked.
“I’m going to piss people off with this one,” Adams said of Ridley’s inclusion. “You can say whatever you want [the suspension] last year that had nothing to do with football and it was stupid. He’s coming back this year and he’s going to have a really, really good year. We don’t check everything at the receiver, we check our band. Look at the boy’s tape, he does things to people consistent with his routes.”
Now that he’s in Jacksonville, it’s possible that Ridley could become a top-five receiver, but at this point it seems more logical to take him off the list and put AJ Brown or Ja’Marr Chase there. Adams actually spent a short time talking about Chase while crediting LSU for producing some of the NFL’s top receivers in recent years, like Jefferson, Chase, and Odell Beckham.
“You have these young guys coming in from LSU and they’re ready to come out the gate,” Adams said.
As for Ridley, he’s already drawing attention in Jacksonville. Jaguars Offensive Coordinator Press Taylor has been keeping a close eye on Ridely this off-season.
“I’m really impressed with Calvin. I’ve seen every picture Calvin has played in the NFL, just like a lot of our guys have. So we’re very confident in the player we’re getting,” Taylor said Monday. “You can see him looking ahead to the setup or just looking ahead a few days as we go along. So he did a great job just blending in with the group and playing his own part.”
The Jaguars had a top-10 passing offense last season and if Ridley becomes their No. 1 receiver he could put up some massive numbers in 2023 and if that happens Adams might be able to get a big “I told you so” if everything is behind.