Jaguars' Calvin Ridley Used Painkillers to Play Through Broken Foot Injury in 2020

Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Calvin Ridley, who spent the first four years of his career with the Atlanta Falcons before serving a year-long suspension in 2022 for gambling on games, admitted that he played nearly the entire 2020 season with a broken foot, taking painkillers to play through the ailment.

Ridley wrote in an article for The Players' Tribune:

"Hardly anybody knows this, but I played most of the 2020 season with a broken foot. Remember that 1,300-yard season? Nine touchdowns? I was killing it on one foot, for real. Actually, I had played through bone spurs my first two years. Just gritted through it with painkillers. But then, my third year, the wheels came off. Week 8, we were playing Carolina and I remember looking at Julio [Jones] and I just knew. I said, 'Nah, bro, this is different. My s--t broke.'

"When I got the MRI, though, the trainer told me it was just a bone bruise. So I kept it pushing. I took Toradol shots every Sunday, and I finished the season. Listen, I know the deal. I'm a football player. It was my decision. I know what we get paid for, you feel me? If it's really just a bruise, I'm gonna be out there.

"We finished 4–12, and then the whole staff got fired. Coach, GM, head trainer, everybody. When the new trainer finally came in, he sent me to a specialist in Green Bay. Within the first hour, the doctor said, 'Your foot is definitely broken.'"

Even playing on a broken foot, Ridley had the best season of his career in 2020, catching 90 passes for 1,374 yards and nine touchdowns in 15 games. He went on to appear in five games during the 2021 season before taking a leave of absence from the Falcons, which he said affected his mental health:

"I still couldn't plant without painkillers. So you get trapped in this cycle where it's like, 'If you take this pill, you can run.' After practice, once that painkiller wears off, you still have to come home and be a husband and a father. . . . I can't even do anything but lie around in a dark room. That's when the anxiety really started. I knew something was off, but I didn't want to let anybody down. My plan was to get through another season with pills and shots. Do my job. Grit it out. I suited up Week 1 a shell of myself, but I played."

Now that Ridley is back to full health both physically and mentally, he's expected to have a big season for the Jaguars in 2023. He'll become a free agent in 2024.