Calvin Ridley hasn’t played in an NFL game since Oct. 24, 2021, but the former Alabama standout expects to play like a “1,400-yard receiver” for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2023.

“I’ve been pretty good at football all my life,” Ridley said on Wednesday, “and I’ve not only been good, but I also worked to be good. You know, they say two years off, but what about the healing process that I got with that time off? What if I got faster? What if I got stronger? Obviously, I got wiser. Why can’t I be better? So I kind of look at it like that.

“Obviously, two years off, I got to go through the tightness, the leg tightness. I got to go through all the crap. But I see myself being a good player. I do.”

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In his most recent full season, Ridley had 90 receptions for 1,374 yards and nine touchdowns in 2020 for the Atlanta Falcons. His extended absence started when he stopped playing and continued because the NFL prevented him from playing.

After missing Atlanta’s game on Oct. 31, 2021, Ridley issued a statement that read: “These past few weeks have been very challenging, and as much as I’d like to be on the field competing with my teammates, I need to step away from football at this time and focus on my mental wellbeing. This will help me be the best version of myself now and in the future. I want to thank my teammates, the entire Atlanta Falcons organization, our great fans, my friends and my family for all of their support during this time.”

Ridley did not play in the remainder of the 2021 season, and the NFL has said it was during this period away from the Falcons that he bet on league games. For that, the NFL suspended him indefinitely, which turned out to be for the 2022 season after he was reinstated on March 6.

I love football,” Ridley said about stepping away from the field. “I just had it hard at that point. I was in my fourth season, and I didn’t want it to be that hard. I’m a great player who works and needs the offseason in order to be great. Most of us do. And that’s kind of what I was saying. I work hard. I was hurt. I am not soft at all – at all. I was in a tough situation. A lot of people, I would’ve wished I want to see how you would’ve handled that. …

“The thing that made me more madder than anything was because I did it already. I already had did it. I was injured and played and played great, so I kind of put myself in that position where it was like: Why can’t you do it again? But I was like, ‘Damn, man, it’s just a little too much, a little too much right now.’ …

“I feel like I always had a clear mind, but I was injured. Once I got over that, everything went back to normal.”

Ridley indicated his suspension was as hard on his family as it was on him.

“When I got suspended, I was in Fort Lauderdale, Florida – Coral Springs, Florida – with my mom,” Ridley said, “and I just remember the day they told me I was suspended, I was like, ‘Dang.’ And I looked at my mom, I was like, ‘Dang.’

“So purposely, when it was about time for me to get reinstated, I went home to my mom’s house, and I waited. It took about two weeks because I didn’t know when they were going to let me in, what day. So I sat there, sat there. They called and said, ‘You’re back.’ My mom seen it.

“The day I got suspended, she doesn’t have social media, so she goes online and reads all the – like ‘Gah!’ And then when I got put back in, I could just see my family was probably more excited than me, for real. That was the biggest thing. My girls – I got a daughter, wife – brothers, they root for me, so I’m so happy I got back in.”

Ridley said he “used the whole suspension to get myself in every category back to being Calvin Ridley.” He also figured he watched every play by the Jaguars’ offense “10 to 12 times” as he prepared to join the team after being acquired in a trade with Atlanta on Nov. 1.

Jacksonville started its offseason program this week.

“I’m just really grateful to be in this position again,” Ridley said, “around some great teammates, great quarterback, great coaches, and like I said, second day, third day tomorrow, it’s been amazing to me.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.