As if the Tennessee Titans haven’t had it hard enough this season, they’ve had to deal with injuries to key players, including wide receiver Calvin Ridley. Transitioning between coaching regimes is a tough challenge, and rookie quarterback Cam Ward has had to do it without one of his top offensive weapons, Ridley.
The wideout has been hard at work, trying to get back on the field most weeks, but he’s had nothing to show for it thus far. Let’s explore his injury situation to determine when he can return to action.
When Will Titans WR Calvin Ridley Return to Action?
Similar to previous weeks, Ridley will have another chance to make it to Sunday, this time against the Houston Texans for Week 11.
The wideout first missed action when he left their Week 6 matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders after catching one ball for 18 yards. It was soon confirmed to be a hamstring injury, and Elic Ayomanor, Chimere Dike, Tyler Lockett, and Van Jefferson handled his workload for the remainder of the contest.
Ridley has since worked to get back to gameday, albeit with little success, and their Texans matchup on Sunday will present his next chance to play. Wednesday could provide a new update on his status as the Titans head out to practice.
The veteran receiver was a valuable weapon in the games that he’s played this season. His Week 6 exit against the Raiders marked the first time this year that he recorded under 25 receiving yards in a game. He put up two 50-plus-yard outings, which included a 131-yard game versus the Arizona Cardinals, ranked 24th in PFSN’s Offense Ranking Metric in Week 5.
The mix of Ayomanor, Dike, Lockett, Jefferson, and tight end Chig Okonkwo, although standing as one of the worst receiving units in the league, picked up the slack in Ridley’s absence.
However, to add salt to their 1-8 wounds, they lost Lockett to the Raiders after Week 7, depleting their receiving corps even further.
Interim head coach Mike McCoy will try to extract something out of the squad again when they host Houston this weekend for a divisional rivalry matchup. The Texans could still scrape together a playoff push at 4-5, while the Titans, although mathematically still in the race, seem very unlikely to see the postseason.
Tennessee enters the matchup as a significant underdog and will aim to give its home crowd a proper show and upset Houston head coach DeMeco Ryans and his team.