Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Calvin Ridley made a stylish return to the NFL with a touchdown in this first game in almost two years.

The former Alabama standout hadn’t played in an NFL regular-season game since Oct. 24, 2021, when he lined up on Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts in an AFC South contest.

With 5:18 left in the first quarter, Ridley scored on a 9-yard pass from Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

That gave Ridley 29 touchdown receptions in his 50 NFL games. No other player from an Alabama high school or college has had that many TD receptions in his first 50 NFL games.

The San Francisco 49ers’ Terrell Owens (Benjamin Russell), Atlanta Falcons’ Julio Jones (Foley, Alabama) and Kansas City Chiefs’ Tyreek Hill (West Alabama) had 28 touchdown receptions in their first 50 NFL games. Owens is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and Jones and Hill are both seven-time Pro Bowlers.

Ridley had scored the previous time he’d been on the field, too, catching a 5-yard pass from quarterback Matt Ryan in the Atlanta Falcons’ 30-28 victory over the Miami Dolphins back in 2021.

Jacksonville acquired Ridley from the Falcons on Nov. 1.

Ridley missed the 2022 NFL season while serving a gambling suspension imposed by the league, which determined that he bet on NFL games. Ridley played only five games in 2021, when he left the Atlanta Falcons to focus on his “mental wellbeing.”

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 on March 7, 2022, which turned out to be for the 2022 season after he was reinstated on March 6.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

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