Report: Eagles tried to trade for Calvin Ridley before his suspension

Talking ifs buts and maybes is rarely fun, but an interesting tidbit has trickled onto social media this afternoon about the Philadelphia Eagles, and the now-suspended Calvin Ridley. According to Jay Glazer and Mike Garafolo, the Eagles were close to acquiring Ridley from Atlanta before a curveball changed everything.

Jay Glazer spoke to NBC’ Sport’s John Clark on the Takeoff podcast and later followed up on Twitter.

Calvin Ridley was almost an Eagle

Ridley was always slated to be a prime target for the Eagles this offseason. Hes’ a graduate of Alabama and obviously has a longstanding relationship with his collegiate quarterback, Jalen Hurts. The pair spent two years working together and have had nothing but glowing things to say about one another since making the leap to the NFL level.

The good news (if you can call it that) is that Calvin Ridley is going to be a free agent next year, which may actually work in favor of Philadelphia, depending on how seriously they view his actions and whether or not they want that kind of behavior being a factor in the locker room.

This kind of thing is obviously going to make any NFL team cautious moving forward, but Ridley is still only 27-years-old and will likely come at a Josh Gordon-like discount next year.

What can Eagles fans learn from this?

What’s really interesting is that the push to Ridley was one that stemmed from a personal relationship from within. We’ve seen this a lot over the past year or so, with DeVonta Smith reuniting with Jalen Hurts, and Fletcher Cox’s cousin, Milton Williams joining the Eagles.

While Philly didn’t land Ridley, it also shows that there is a clear intent to try and find some value before spending one of their three first-round picks. This means that when free agency opens, we should absolutely expect Howie Roseman to be scouring the market looking for deals.

Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire