The NFL on Monday fully reinstated Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Calvin Ridley from his suspension for violating the league’s gambling policy.
Ridley, who had applied for reinstatement from his indefinite suspension for gambling on NFL games on Feb. 15, is now eligible to participate in all team activities immediately.
Ridley was suspended for at least the 2022 season on March 7 last year after an investigation found that he bet on NFL games over a five-day stretch in November 2021 while he was away from the Atlanta Falcons..
In a series of tweets after the suspension was announced, Ridley admitted his bets totaled $1,500 but said he doesn’t have a gambling problem.
The Jaguars traded for Ridley on Nov. 1 — sending the Falcons a 2023 fifth-round pick and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2024 that could rise as high as a second-round pick if the Jaguars sign Ridley to an extension. Ridley now will be paid a guaranteed $11.116 million in 2023 as the fifth-year option from the rookie deal he signed with the Falcons after being drafted 26th overall in 2018.
Ridley hasn’t played in an NFL game since Oct. 24, 2021. Ridley left the Falcons seven days later and said in a statement that he “needed to step away from football at this time and focus on my mental wellbeing.”
Ridley, 28, had 248 catches for 3,342 yards and 28 touchdowns in 49 games with the Falcons, including 90 catches for 1,374 yards and nine touchdowns in 2020. If he’s able to play at a similar level to what he did in 2020 (90 catches for 1,374 yards and nine touchdowns), the Jaguars could have one of the best offenses in the NFL.