Calvin Ridley may only be a season away from statistically being one of the best Falcons receivers ever

Our Falcon offensive player of the year roundtable earlier today predictably featured a heavy dose of Calvin Ridley, who blew past the 1,000 yard mark he set as a personal target over the summer and finished among the league leaders in most marks. With just one more healthy season under his, Ridley will likely own another distinction: One of the best Falcons receivers ever.

Here’s the pretty simple math.

1. Today, Ridley is 16th all-time in franchise receiving yards. If he matched this year’s 1,374 yards worth of production in 2021, he’d be 6th, surpassing tight end Jim Mitchell and leaving him behind only Andre Rison, Alfred Jenkins, Terance Mathis, Roddy White, and Julio Jones.
2. Today, Ridley is 18th all-time in Falcons history for receptions. If he once again caught 90 balls, he’d jump all the way up to 8th, leapfrogging William Andrews and leaving him just behind Jim Mitchell.
3. Right now, Ridley is 11th all-time in scoring for a Falcons receiver or tight end. If he scores 9 receiving touchdowns again in 2021—and given his pace, that feels likely—he’ll match Alge Crumpler and Tony Gonzalez and be 6th all-time, behind the same five guys he’d be trailing on the yardage leaderboard in the scenario above.

The long and short of it is that Ridley’s incredibly torrid pace will have Falcons fans mentioning him with franchise legends sooner than later, because statistically he’ll belong there. It’s certainly fair to give Matt Ryan some of the credit for fueling the success of three of the best receivers in franchise history over the past decade-plus, but each one of Roddy, Julio, and Ridley have been legitimate studs who were or are some of the best players at the position in the entire NFL. Ridley’s career is just getting started, and I can’t wait to see whether he can match or surpass Julio and Roddy in the years to come.