How Jerod Mayo Felt About Patriots Not Signing Calvin Ridley

The New England Patriots tried to land one of the top free agents on the market this offseason in Calvin Ridley.

But their pursuit of the standout wide receiver came up short with Ridley deciding to join the Tennessee Titans on a four-year, $92 million contract with $50 million guaranteed. The Patriots reportedly were just $1 million off the average annual value of the deal.

That might have put even more sting into failing to land Ridley for the Patriots. It somewhat seemed that way for first-year head coach Jerod Mayo, but he wasn’t trying to stay stuck on missing out on Ridley.

“You know, obviously disappointed that Ridley went in a different direction, but hey, we’re good,” Mayo told reporters Sunday from the NFL owners meetings in Orlando, Fla., per the Boston Sports Journal’s Mike Giardi. “I like the direction that we’re going.”

Signing Ridley, who totaled 76 receptions for 1,016 yards with eight touchdowns last season with the Jacksonville Jaguars, would have solved a major issue when it comes to New England’s roster as there’s a big void when it comes to the receiver position. The positional group looks very similar to last year aside from the addition of K.J. Osborn and the subtraction of DeVante Parker.

But Mayo explained the priority for the Patriots wasn’t to go through a dramatic overhaul with a plethora of signings. Instead, they wanted to re-sign some of their pending free agents to help facilitate a rebuild after a 4-13 season.

“I think the most important thing for us is to get our people back here, right?” Mayo said. “We sign our players, the Mike Onwenus of the world. Look, we have some good players that we want to keep and that’s kind of part of the culture that we want to build.”