Ben Arthur
AFC South Reporter
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — After Wednesday’s joint practice with the Seahawks, new Titans wide receiver Calvin Ridley stood next to the field, surrounded by a throng of local media, and explained his two missed deep-ball opportunities during team drills.
He beat the Seattle cornerback both times, he said, but he just didn’t finish his routes.
Next thing he knew, quarterback Will Levis had launched the passes — and Ridley wasn’t there to meet the ball.
“My energy, man. It wasn’t there. I just wasn’t finishing,” he said. “I just have to run full speed the whole time.”
The blown chances encapsulate what’s been an inconsistent connection between Levis and Ridley through three-plus weeks of training camp.
They’ve had their dazzling moments. In a practice earlier this month, Ridley made one play that made the team’s Instagram page — a ridiculous snag in tight coverage down the sideline where he managed to get both feet in-bounds as he tumbled to the ground. In the Titans’ preseason opener, he had a 22-yard catch and run that helped set up a touchdown.
But the connection between the quarterback and his new star receiver has largely been defined by deep targets that have sailed incomplete — a combination of error on one or both their parts, bad timing and miscommunication.
In free agency, the franchise gave Ridley a four-year deal worth $92 million, including $50 million guaranteed, highlighting its effort to upgrade Levis’ surrounding cast. Tennessee needs Ridley to be a game-changing receiver, magnified in the short term with fellow wideouts DeAndre Hopkins out for several weeks with a knee injury and Tyler Boyd day-to-day with a foot bruise.
“It’s never a linear process.” coach Brian Callahan said of the rapport between QB and receiver. “There’s good and bad. Some days are great. Some days, you have to go take a look at where you missed and why you missed it and come back the next day and try to fix it.”
On Wednesday and Thursday, Ridley struggled against Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen, who had an NFL-high six interceptions as a rookie in 2022. In three one-on-one reps I observed Wednesday, Woolen had clear wins on two. On one of them, Ridley couldn’t shake Woolen’s press coverage on a comeback route, and the pass sailed incomplete. On the other, Woolen broke up a Levis pass to Ridley on a crossing route.
On deep balls, Levis is still learning to acclimate to the veteran receiver’s speed.
Ridley’s average max route speed last season was 22.11 mph, tops in the league among qualified receivers, according to Next Gen Stats.
“It takes some adjustment to get used to that [speed],” Callahan said earlier this month. “When to put the ball in the air, what time. So there’s some trial and error, you know? Certain throws aren’t where we want to put it. You go back and watch it and go, ‘Man, he’s really a whole revolution faster than a lot of guys on that particular route.’ So you adjust your footwork. You adjust your timing. It’s sort of this back and forth between the two of them on getting on the same page.
“That’s with every receiver, but Calvin in particular because he is so explosive,” Callahan continued. “You have to learn a little bit more about how he runs routes, where he’s going to be.”
Can Will Levis lead the Titans to the playoffs?
While the on-field chemistry between Levis and Ridley is a work in progress, the second-year quarterback likes their communication.
“[Just] instilling confidence in each other,” Levis said. “Being honest with each other if we know it’s something that was on one of us or the other. Trying to be better for each other. And then also having all of our coaches, especially Coach Callahan, involved with it to make sure we know the timing and intent of the play and how we see it married up with the footwork and with his route.
“We’ve just got to continue to keep working at it. … I know that it’s going to be a big part of our offense.”
Riddley added that it’s been easy to talk through issues with Levis.
“That part right there I love the most,” the 29-year-old veteran told FOX Sports. “If we don’t have a good relationship and feel pretty good about each other, we won’t be able to fix those problems.”
The Titans are banking on the tandem finding a connection that lasts.
Ben Arthur is the AFC South reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.
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