Bet your unlucky stars, Falcons trade Calvin Ridley to team he wagered against

Calvin Ridley has been traded from the Atlanta Falcons to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

You can bet your bottom dollar that Calvin Ridley can be traded to a team he actually bet against.

While the Atlanta Falcons and the Jacksonville Jaguars usually play each other in the final preseason game annually, it is so beyond hilarious that the suspended wide receiver is being traded to a team he used his money to fade. Ridley has been suspended for the entire 2022 NFL season for betting on games while he was taking a leave of absence from the 2021 Falcons team.

The most famous game he wagered on was Falcons’ 21-14 victory over the Jaguars last season.

Now, Ridley is taking his talents to Duval County.

Here is the compensation that is coming Atlanta’s way for its former first-round wide receiver.

Bet your unlucky stars that the Falcons would trade Calvin Ridley to the Jaguars

Ian Rapport of the NFL Network reported Atlanta could be getting up to a 2023 fifth-round pick and a 2024 second-round pick in exchange for Ridley. He followed that initial report up with the conditionals of the trade.

The 2023 pick depends on if and when he gets reinstated by the league. If Ridley gets reinstated by a certain date, it will become a sixth-round pick.

As for the 2024 pick, it is at-minimum a fourth-rounder. Should he hit a milestone based on playing time, that becomes a third-round pick. If Ridley were to agree to a long-term extension with the Jaguars, it would become a second-round pick in 2024.

Had Ridley not been suspended for the entire season, the 2018 first-round pick out of Alabama would have been playing out his fifth-year option in Atlanta. Since 2022 is not an accrued season for him, that will carry over into 2023 on the Jaguars’ payroll. Cash-strapped Atlanta gets out from under roughly a $11 million cap hit by making the trade. He was not part of their long-term plans.

The Falcons have two emerging stars in their receiving corps in second-year pro tight end Kyle Pitts and this past year’s first-round pick in wideout Drake London. Atlanta may be eating a ton of dead cap this season, but the books open up next year for the Dirty Birds to potentially be big spenders in free agency. Despite roster limitations, first-place Atlanta is 4-4 through eight weeks.

As for the Jaguars, they just added a veteran wide receiver with something to prove who can hopefully help bring along struggling second-year quarterback Trevor Lawrence. After a hot start, Jacksonville has gone cold under new head coach Doug Pederson. The Jaguars are still rebuilding, but they were able to acquire a talented playmaker in Ridley for only a pair of future draft picks.

It is a safe bet to say the Falcons and the Jaguars made a pretty fair deal in the Ridley trade here.