What Titans OC Brian Daboll says of Calvin Ridley after WR Carnell Tate pick
Calvin Ridley 's still around.
The Tennessee Titans drafted wide receiver Carnell Tate with the No. 4 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft , setting him up to be the team's No. 1 receiver for the present and future. And the Titans signed slot-type receiver Wan'Dale Robinson to a four-year deal worth up to $70 million this offseason. By base contract value, that'd make Robinson the fourth-highest paid No. 2 receiver in the NFL behind George Pickens, Jameson Williams and DeVonta Smith.
But Ridley, coming off a disappointing and injury-shortened 2025 season, returned to the Titans for 2026 on an amended contract. Tate's the future. Robinson's the new big-money toy.
And Ridley's still around.
"Rid is Rid," new Titans offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said on May 2. "I’ve got a long-standing relationship with Rid back to 2017. He means a lot to me as a player. He was a good player for us when I was at Alabama. But as a person, we’ve developed a good relationship. It’s good to have him here. We’ve changed some stuff as we’ve went, but he’s smart. He’s a good player. He’s a good teammate. I’ve got a lot of appreciation and love for Rid."
Ridley got off to a slow start last season, catching just 17 passes for 303 yards and no touchdowns in seven games before a leg injury sidelined him for the rest of the year. During that slow start, he was charged with four dropped passes, and quarterback Cam Ward 's passer rating when targeting Ridley was a paltry 64.9.
The Titans initially signed Ridley to a four-year deal in 2024 that at the time was the biggest free agent contract ever given to a wide receiver. He rewarded the investment with a 1,000-yard season but never quite found a rhythm with Ward in Year 2.
Now the investment around Ridley has totally reshaped the receiver room. Tate is the highest drafted receiver in Titans history. Robinson is coming off his first 1,000-yard season and has played his entire career under Daboll's tutelage with the New York Giants . Second-year players Chimere Dike and Elic Ayomanor , the Titans' top two wideouts by yards and touchdowns in 2025, also return.
If there's any advantage Ridley has, it's his history with Daboll. Daboll was Ridley's offensive coordinator at Alabama in 2017, the year Ridley rode a first-team All-SEC season to a national championship and first-round draft status.
As Daboll mentioned when talking about Tate's acclimation process, any prior familiarity when stepping on to a team with a new coaching staff is a small leg up.
"It’s a unique situation for the rookies on our team because it’s a new coaching staff," Daboll said. "It’s a new system. Sometimes you get rookies and they’re coming into Year 3 or Year 4 of the system where the vets are so much further ahead of those guys. These guys are only a few weeks back in terms of the meeting time we’ve had with our players."
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com . Follow Nick on X @nicksuss . Subscribe to the Talkin’ Titans newsletter for updates sent directly to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: After Carnell Tate pick, where does Calvin Ridley stand with Titans
